Lukas Podolski slams the treatment of Mesut Ozil at Arsenal

Former Germany international Lukas Podolski has slammed the treatment of Mesut Ozil this season.

The 32-year-old midfielder has not made an appearance for Arsenal since March and he has been left out of the Premier League and the Europa League squad for this season.

Podolski revealed that it was not right to leave Ozil out of the Arsenal squad after the German spent several seasons with them.

He also claimed that Ozil has shown his class on the pitch for Arsenal and his behaviour towards his colleagues has been exemplary as well.

“I don’t know the background, but I generally think with a player who is now in his sixth or seventh year with the club, to kick him completely out of the squad… that’s absolutely not okay,” Podolski told Bild.

“You don’t do something like that, and I don’t know if something happened in the background or not but even if he’s done something, you don’t do it.

“He’s shown his class on the pitch, he’s never been negative towards his colleagues or the club. It’s sad because everyone’s losing in this situation. It should not end this way. Arsenal as a club have not looked positive in this situation over the last months.”

Ozil will be out of contract at the end of this season and it is clear that his future with Arsenal is over.

It will be interesting to see if the former World Cup winner decides to leave the club when the transfer window reopens in January.

There is no doubt that Mesut Ozil has regressed as a player but he is still a very good option for most teams and he needs to play regular first team football.

Spending a year on the sidelines with Arsenal it’s not ideal for his career and he should look to move on as soon as possible.