Mesut Ozil is set to be left out of Arsenal's 25-man Premier League squad today, according to reports this morning.
The German international has been frozen out of first-team action at the north London club, with all Premier League sides having to name their panel of players by today's 2pm deadline.
Thirty-two-year-old Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is also to be omitted from Mikel Arteta's plans according to the Evening Standard, with both players having been left out of the Europa League squad earlier this month.
As things stand the Gunners have 19 non-homegrown players over the age of 21, which is two more than the limit allowed by both the Premier League and Uefa.
#afc Premier League squads set to be submitted today. Must be in by 2pm.
No surprise, but my understanding is Ozil and Sokratis will be left out again. More on @standardsport shortly.— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) October 20, 2020
Last month, Arteta tried to explain his reasoning behind leaving Ozil out, with the 32-year-old yet to play a game this season.
"We want to evolve more and play better and compete better. We are picking the players that we believe are the best for each game. You can see we keep training, it’s what we’re trying to do.
"You can see that the players we are changing, we are using, it’s very difficult every week not for Mesut but for some other players as well to make the squad. Every week we try to pick the right players.
"It’s difficult for others as well that aren’t involved in the Premier League and didn’t play tonight either. We have a squad of 26, 27 players at the moment and we can’t give playing time to all of them.
Thanks @Arsenal 🙌🏼 #YaGunnersYa https://t.co/2I1mN5Gfex
— Mesut Özil (@M10) October 15, 2020
"Of course I understand and I respect your questions but I have to try to do my job as fair as possible. I try to select the players that are, in my opinion, in better condition."
The former Real Madrid star is into the final year of his £350,000 per week contract at the Emirates.
Earlier this month, Ozil had tweeted that he was offering to pay the wages of Jerry Quy, who was being let go from his role as Arsenal's club mascot Gunnersaurus due to cost-cutting measures.
Arsenal lost 1-0 at Manchester City at the weekend, but sit fifth in the Premier League standings after three wins from their opening five matches.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
