He has always played the media game well has Mesut Ozil. I wonder how much he spends on his PR team?

Yesterday he released an interview through The Athletic where he painted himself the victim at Arsenal.

He blamed Arsenal for rushing the pay cut talks, and said that he refused to take one as “questions remained unanswered”.

Ozil declared himself fit and ready to play, and that he was committed to Arsenal.

He showed disappointment in Arsenal distancing themselves from his view on the treatment of Uighur Muslim’s in China.

And finally he said he had no regrets of his actions and decisions.

As expected, his fans lapped it up. Backed him. Blamed Arsenal. Some even said he should “sue Arsenal” for the way they have treated him.

All these people show that they are supporters or Mesut Ozil, not supporters or Arsenal.

When the time does come for Ozil to leave, they will likely leave him, and begin supporting whatever Turkish, Chinese or American side he joins.

He oddly has a huge backing from Nigeria.

Dare criticise him on Twitter and your mentions will be inundated with Nigerian based “Arsenal fans” supporting him.

So Ozil has spoken a great game once more. But actions speak louder than words.

Following the resumption of football, he ended up out of Mikel Arteta’s plans.

Some have said that this was a financial decision made by the board in an attempt to force him out of the club – to get his £18m wages off the wage bill next season.

But this view does not make sense.

Qualifying for the Europe League is worth around £35million. Can double that if we had have sneaked the Champions League.

Each individual place in the Premier League is worth about £2m more than the place below.

It is clear and obvious that the financial reward for finishing higher in the league is greater than what Ozil would cost over the next 12 months.

So the financial incentive of the club would have been to finish as high up the table as possible, and therefore Arteta to play his best team as possible.

Leaving Ozil out for financial reasons and then failing to make the Europa League makes zero sense.

Whilst every few weeks Ozil tweets or posted on Instagram that he is ready and raring to go, Arteta got to see him day in, day out in training.

His actions and performances at London Colney speak much more about his readiness than what the player says on social media.

The ultimate action was Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi not being at Wembley for the final, whilst the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Bernd Leno, Gabriel Martinelli and Callum Chambers we’re invited along.

What it indicates is Arteta didn’t want the atmosphere around that both players bring. The negativity.

A decision was made not to have either about and Arsenal won.

There has been plenty of talk about Ozil often calling in sick to training. About his inability to complete a full weeks training.

On top of that, he has reportedly pulled out of match day squads with a “sore back” at very late notice.

Against Manchester City in the first game back it was on the day of the game.

So whilst Ozil might sit on social media and tel his fans that he is ready to play, his actions clearly do not back up his words.

Ultimately, if Ozil has the hunger and desire to play football, he would be looking for a move away.

The fact that he has said he will remain at Arsenal next season regardless of whether he plays or not shows he has no real interest in playing football anymore.

Yes, he is under contract at Arsenal and does not have to force a move away. But if he had the hunger to play football he would.

His time at Arsenal is clearly over. It is now down to him whether he wants to play football or not.

My feeling is he will remain at Arsenal for the season and not playing. All that action does is support Arteta and the management team at Arsenal.

It simply highlights that Ozil no longer has the right mentality to be a top footballer.

Keenos