"If it was up to me, he’d be gone" – Former Arsenal striker explains why club need to sell Mesut Ozil
Kevin Campbell believes his former club should sell Mesut Ozil this summer to fund the signing of four new players.
The Gunners were beaten 3-0 by Leicester City on Sunday to leave their Champions League qualification hopes hanging by a thread.
Unai Emery’s side are two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea with two games remaining, although they also have a Europa League semi-final against Valencia coming up this week.
Ozil missed the Foxes defeat through injury, but former Arsenal striker Campbell told the Express that the German’s £350,000 per week wages would be better spent elsewhere.
"If it was up to me, he’d be gone," he said.
“I don’t think he can contribute enough to Arsenal. With the set-up and the way the Premier League is going, I don’t think he does enough.
“Is he a wonderfully gifted player? Of course he is. But the way his talent is going, he doesn’t do enough for me.
“On his wage, that could bring in four players. And it might be four versatile players.
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“On one person’s wage you get four opportunities to improve the squad, that must take priority.
“More functional players get the better of Arsenal and are undoing them.
“That should never undo Arsenal because the club should have that in abundance.
"Arsenal haven’t had that type of player in recent years and they need to get that back.”
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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.
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