Arsenal star playmaker Mesut Ozil is already fighting for his Arsenal future according to the former England international Gary Neville.
Ozil endured a turbulent summer which resulted in him retiring from international football. The 29-year-old has also had a difficult start to the Premier League season with Arsenal.
Arsenal boss Unai Emery substituted Ozil off mid-way through the second half during the Gunners 3-2 defeat to Chelsea last weekend.
Neville believes Emery’s decision to take Ozil off confirms that the Spanish tactician will refuse to indulge the club’s top earner.
“Mesut Ozil, he can’t press from the front, so he’s basically got to give him an opportunity, give him enough rope to see what he’s going to do with it,” Gary Neville told Sky Sports.
“The reality of it is he said to Mesut Ozil in the lead up to the second game you’ve got to work harder.
“That’s the first time I’ve publicly heard anyone call Mesut Ozil out and that’s after one game.
“Second game he hooks him and subs him. He’s working him out. He’s saying if you don’t want to press, if you don’t want to do whay I’m saying you’ll be out of the team. He’s working out those players.”
“The last thing he should do in my opinion with my experience, which was a bad one, is adapt and change because the players will walk all over him.”
Arsenal will be hoping to register their first win of the season when they take West Ham United this weekend.
The clash takes place on Saturday at the Emirates stadium, kick-off is scheduled for 15:00 (GMT).
Ozil was named as one of Arsenal’s five captains for the new season. The 29-year-old recently penned a mega-money new contract keeping him at the north London based club until 2021.