‘I just ask for fair treatment’: Agent says he was shocked by what Arsenal boss Arteta did to his client in 2020

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Dr Erkut Sogut, agent of Mesut Ozil, has broken his silence on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s treatment of his client in 2020.

The German World Cup often divided opinion at the Emirates. He was a regular under Arsene Wenger but wasn’t fancied by Unai Emery at all. Arteta brought him back into the mix when he was appointed, but that relationship fell apart fairly quickly.

When the Premier League returned following the break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Arteta decided he didn’t want Ozil anymore. The playmaker was even dropped from Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squads at the start of the following campaign, much to the surprise of the German and his agent.

Sogut has now had his say, and he has claimed that Ozil was left with no choice but to leave Arsenal – even though he wanted to stay.

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Agent says he was surprised by Arsenal boss Arteta’s treatment of Ozil

Sogut said, as per The Evening Standard: “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.’”

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It really was a shock back then that Arteta decided to axe Ozil from his squad. The German had actually played well under the Arsenal boss before the pandemic hit, but whatever happened during the break pushed him out of the side.

Arteta, as we know now, does not change his mind once a decision is made. Ozil had no way back into the Arsenal squad, and he was allowed to leave in January 2021.

The German joined Turkish side Fenerbahce and ironically, he has been frozen out of the squad there as well.

Maybe Arteta wasn’t wrong to do what he did after all.

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