Mesut Ozil's agent Dr Erkut Sogut has claimed that Mikel Arteta treated his client unfairly towards the end of his Arsenal career.
The German playmaker spent seven and a half years at the Emirates Stadium after signing for a then club-record fee of £42.5million back in 2013. He helped the Gunners end their trophy drought in his debut campaign, winning the FA Cup, a trophy he went on to lift three times during his time at the club.
However, his time in north London didn't end in a positive light, with manager Arteta surprisingly leaving him out of the registered squad for the 2020/21 campaign before he eventually departed for Turkish giants Fenerbahce in January of last year. Now, Dr Sogut has spoken about the way the former Real Madrid star was treated during his final few months at the club.
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Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “I just ask for fair treatment like with any other player. But to not be in the squad at all, that was a couple of days before the window was closing and it was too late for us to react anyway. Maybe three days, four days before when I was told he might not be in the squad at all, he might not be listed. So that was a surprise.
"First for the Europa League and then for the Premier League as well, that was not expected by us at all. The coach didn’t want him in the squad and the player has to accept that, what can you do?
“It’s not easy for any player and he realised as well: ‘Look, I need to move on now, even though I’d love to stay here. I won’t play for the rest of the season, at all, so when that was clear there was no reason to stay there for five months.’”
