Steve Sidwell: Mesut Ozil doesn’t care and Arsenal are trying to get rid

We had to check to be sure… but Wikipedia confirms Mesut Ozil is still a professional footballer.

Sightings of the playmaker in an Arsenal shirt this season have been almost as rare as a Tottenham away win.

Now former Gunner Steve Sidwell has piled on the misery as he tore into Ozil and accused him of letting the supporters down.

Speaking to the Liquid Football podcast, which is produced by JOE in partnership with Paddy Power, he said: “He’s one of the most frustrating players for me over the past two seasons.

He has got ridiculous talent but just doesn’t seem to care.

“Ultimately as a fan, and football is all about the fans, they just want to see someone who is going to go out there and try their hardest.

“They know they’re not going to go out there and have a great game every single week but as long as they are trying, when things don’t come off, they’ll still get applauded for putting in the effort.

“But he doesn’t even put that effort in. Some people say it’s his mannerisms, it’s just the way he plays, a bit like [Dimitar] Berbatov. But they’re obviously looking to get him out of the door.”

Ozil is Arsenal’s top earner and has made little fuss over a lack of action this term despite making just two appearances in all competitions.

Sidwell believes his enormous £350,000-a-week wage packet means he is reluctant to leave for a club where he might not earn as much.

“It all comes down to the individual,” he added. “If you look at his situation and the money he’s on, he knows he can’t go somewhere else unless he takes a massive wage drop.

“Is he sat there thinking ‘you know what, it doesn’t bother me if I don’t go somewhere else, I’ll just stay here and collect the money. Maybe I’ll go on loan and let the club subsidise it?’

“I was in a situation at Stoke under Mark Hughes when I knew week in, week out I wasn’t going to play. But I trained my hardest Monday to Friday.”