Kia Joorabchian believes the ongoing row between Arsenal and playmaker Mesut Ozil is ‘pure stupidity’ from both sides and believes Ozil’s agent should be doing more to salvage the situation.
Joorabchian, who represents Willian and Philippe Coutinho among others, thinks there are no ‘winners’ in the standoff and that Ozil’s representatives should have found a solution this summer.
Despite being the club’s highest-paid player, Ozil has not featured for Arsenal since March and was left out of Mikel Arteta’s Premier League and Europa League squads.
Ozil has publicly criticised the decision to leave him off the rosters – which will likely mean he doesn’t play any competitive football until January – saying he is ‘saddened’ that his ‘loyalty’ has not been reciprocated by the club.
But Joorabchian thinks the entire situation is foolish and that it should have been resolved some time ago.
‘I don’t see any winners in this situation,’ he told Talksport.
‘Ozil is not teaching Arsenal a lesson by sitting out and not playing, and Arsenal are not teaching Ozil a lesson by omitting him from the Premier League squad.
‘I don’t see who wins in a situation where you don’t find an agreement between each other.
‘It’s just pure stupidity. I think it’s the essential role of the agent not just to bring high transfers to clubs, but also where there’s a problem to fix it. I think that’s what the role and job title says.
‘There was a situation at Everton where Theo Walcott wasn’t going to get enough game time and so he moved to Southampton, because they were very proactive.
‘The role of the agent in the case of Mesut is to ensure he plays.
‘He’s a big player, but he just doesn’t fit the Arsenal mould today. He has a lot of talent, he’s a World Cup winner, this is a player who should be playing somewhere right now.’
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