Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger issued a warning to his successor Unai Emery regarding Mesut Ozil recently.
Wenger feels Ozil may lack motivation without international football and should consider returning to the Germany national team.
Emery dismissed concerns about his star playmaker’s mentality in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Leicester City clash.
“We need every player with a very big motivation every day in training and to continue improving and to continue helping us with his quality,” Emery said when asked about Wenger’s comments.
“It’s the same with Mesut. The motivation is very important for us. We want to find this motivation every day from every player.”
Wenger coached the playmaker of Turkish origin for four years and signed him from Real Madrid in 2013.
The French manager is worried Ozil’s motivation could take a hit without international football to focus on: “I believe that Germany need Ozil,” Wenger told SportBild.
“I hope that Low can convince him to come back. Ozil is a super football player, he was not the worst at the World Cup. “I did not love that he left Germany’s national team because a small piece of motivation disappears when you know that you do not have to be ready for a World Cup or a European Championship.”
Ozil returned to full team training mid-week after recovering from the back spasm that ruled him out of the 5-1 victory over Fulham last week.
The 30-year-old is match fit leading into the Leicester City game at the Emirates on Monday night.
The 2014 World Cup champion has three goals in eight appearances for the Gunners this term.
