Arsenal desperate to offload star midfielder Ozil

Bengaluru, January 16: Arsenal are reportedly ready to offload former German international midfielder Mesut Ozil in the summer.

The Gunners boss Unai Emery has decided the former German international does not figure in his long-term plans.

However, the Gunners hierarchy are fearing that Ozil’s £350,000-a-week contract will make it almost impossible to find a buyer. There were no offers for him last January when he was into the last six months of his contract.

And there is even less interest now in the 30-year-old playmaker, who is still valued at around £40million by the Gunners.

Ozil, a £42.5m buy from Real Madrid in 2013, insists he is happy and settled at Arsenal and is willing to stay and fight for his place. But the club are finding it impossible to stomach the idea of its top earner missing so many games and want him off the payroll in order to reshape their team for the future.

The huge dilemma they face is Ozil’s £18m-a-year salary which puts him beyond the reach of all but Europe’s elite clubs.

The player is in no rush to return to Germany after the racism row which led to him retiring from international football last year. And, though he remains hugely popular in Turkey, there are no Super Lig teams who can meet his ambitions or his wages.

Senior figures at Arsenal now bitterly regret the decision to break the Emirates pay structure to keep him at any cost last year.

Ex-chief exec Ivan Gazidis feared Ozil was about to leave on a free and was panicked into agreeing an eye-watering new deal to 2021.

Emery has found it impossible to accommodate Ozil in his system and is making it clear he wants him out. He was not even included among the substitutes for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at West Ham.

Ozil has started just 13 of 32 games for Arsenal this term and regularly declared himself unfit and unavailable.

He has not scored or had an assist since the 3-1 win against Leicester in October and his stock is falling day by day.