Arsenal’s World Cup winner Mesut Ozil has been slammed by Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, who believes the German took the easy option by joining Arsenal.
Scholes believes that Ozil, who joined the Gunners in 2013, is under no pressure to perform in North London- as the club cannot compete for titles.
Writing in the Evening Standard, he said:
“Over the years, the big players who were really ambitious – [Patrick] Vieira, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie – have all left. They left for the simple reason that Arsenal are not in it to win league titles any more.”
“Those players have realised that if they want to win championships then they have to move elsewhere. It’s why I think Mesut Ozil took the easy option joining Arsenal.”
“Since he has been there you cannot doubt his quality but at times he looks like he is going through the motions, however much ground he covers.”
“He needs a leader around him to get him going. At Real Madrid he had a chance of winning league titles. At Arsenal that is not on the cards.”
“It is hard when you have a recent history as successful as Arsenal were under Arsene Wenger in his first 10 years at the club. Hard in that you will always be compared to great teams of the past – as the current United team are just finding out now.”
“My issue with Arsenal is that I don’t think they are striving to be like the great teams of theirs who used to battle us for the league title. They seem happy to finish fourth every year.”