Mesut Ozil could silence Liverpool with one touch and was Europe’s assist king at Real Madrid

Mesut Ozil looks set to go the whole 2020/21 campaign without playing a competitive football match.

The Arsenal midfielder, if you can still call him that, is not part of any Gunners squads for the season, nor does he wish to leave and play elsewhere.

It’s a messy situation, one brought about mainly because Arsenal made Ozil their highest-paid player on £350,000-a-week, on a contract that doesn’t expire for nearly another six months.

The 32-year-old is under no obligation to leave, and with no club willing to pick up his astronomical wages, it certainly makes financial sense for him to wait things out at the Emirates – even if it negatively impacts his football career a little bit.

While that contract is now criticised as a poor decision, given Gunners boss Mikel Arteta doesn’t even consider the German among his most valuable 25 players, it’s easy to forget just how good Ozil was.

Indeed, if you told anyone that the 21-year-old superstar who lit up the 2010 World Cup for Germany would be in this position, they would have laughed you out the room!

After bursting onto the scene at that tournament, every club in the world wanted Ozil.

Rumour has it Wayne Rooney begged Sir Alex Ferguson to try and sign the man being dubbed one of Europe’s finest talents so that they could link up at Old Trafford.

But, as they so often do, Real Madrid won the race – and it proved to be one worth winning.

Ozil emerged as Kaka’s successor and even outperformed the legendary Brazilian during his three seasons at the club.

In each of his campaigns with Real, Ozil finished as LaLiga’s leading assist maker, with his vision and passing range unrivalled across most of Europe.

His manager at Madrid, Jose Mourinho, recently included Ozil in an all-time XI of players he’s managed – and praise doesn’t get much higher than that.

When Arsenal signed Ozil for £42m in 2013, after years without making any marquee additions to the squad while they paid off the construction of the Emirates, fans were understandably beside themselves.

It took a while for the playmaker to prove his worth, although the Gunners did end their trophy drought by winning the FA Cup in his first two seasons.

Nonetheless, questions were asked about whether his casual style of play which lacks true physicality was a match for the Premier League.

But Ozil’s mercurial quality soon shone through, and in his third season at the club he finished the campaign with 19 assists, just one behind Thierry Henry’s record of 20 in a single season.

Like Henry, Ozil was capable of magical things – that touch during a 3-3 draw at Liverpool silenced the Anfield crowd.

Even still, his best years at the club feel a distant memory.

Following the departure of Arsene Wenger in 2018, Ozil’s Arsenal career has been characterised by injuries, controversy, fractious relationships with managers, and endless headlines about his salary.

When all is said and done, it’s just a shame that a player blessed with such bewildering talent finds himself in a position where football doesn’t want him.