Mesut Ozil’s humbling fall from grace at Arsenal has former Gunners striker Kevin Campbell refusing to refer to the German by name, with those at Emirates Stadium being urged to move on from a distracting saga.
Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta has decided to leave the World Cup winner out of his plans for Europa League and Premier League competition.
Eyebrows have been raised by those bold selection calls, with questions being asked of why an experienced 32-year-old is being completely frozen out.
Many have suggested that Ozil could still have a role to play for the Gunners, given his undoubted ability, but he is now firmly stuck in the shadows at Emirates Stadium.
It appears likely, given that his contract is running down towards free agency in 2021, that he will never be seen again in an Arsenal shirt.
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With that taken into account, Campbell wants a divisive character to be pushed out of sight and mind in north London, allowing focus to be narrowed on those who can still contribute to the collective cause.
The former Gunners striker told Gentingbet when asked if Arteta could find himself low on creativity with a player of Ozil’s ilk left kicking his heels on the sidelines: “Arsenal aren’t struggling for creativity at all and I'm not even going to mention that man's name.
“For me, the key is that there are players there who can create, but they haven't been playing well.
“Now, there was no rush to call in the omitted name this season, but now that the team isn’t playing so well, his name gets keep keeps getting mentioned. So, I don’t buy into it all.
“I think that when the team are playing well, Arsenal will create and score goals. When they're not playing well, every team will struggle and that's the issue.”
Arsenal drew a blank in their last Premier League outing, as they were beaten 1-0 by Leicester at Emirates Stadium.
They have a Europa League meeting with Dundalk to try and get back into the groove on Thursday, before taking in another testing domestic encounter on Sunday when they head to Old Trafford to face arch-rivals Manchester United.
