Arsenal star Mesut Ozil has received a lot of criticism for meeting the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ozil along with Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan and Turkey international Cenk Tosun all met the Turkish president in a recent event in London.
Gundogan has tried to defuse the situation by talking to the Germany media while Ozil has opted for silence.
On German TV on Sunday, former Germany national team legend Mario Basler slammed both Ozil and Gundogan.
Basler called Ozil ‘overrated’ and called for both players to be dropped.
“Ozil is overrated. Even if he plays another 100 internationals. To me, he’s a follower,” Basler was quoted as saying by BILD.
“He has extraordinary abilities, of course. But in big games, he doesn’t put them on the pitch.
“If they (Gundogan and Ozil) are boot in the first World Cup match of the German team, Jogi Low must respond. He should replace and not let them play, otherwise he’s putting the major honour in jeopardy.”
Both players have been booed by sections of German fans in their last two friendly games against Austria and Saudi Arabia – Ozil did not feature against the Saudi’s.
Ozil and Gundogan have both made the 23-man squad and Joachim Low has shown no signs that he will drop either player.
The Germany team kick off their defence of the World Cup next week, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea have been drawn in their group.