Here is your morning Arsenal digest on Sunday, March 26.
Mesut Ozil's Arsenal tears
Mesut Ozil has admitted signing for Arsenal in the summer of 2013 reduced him to tears as he embarked on his north London venture.
Following a difficult season with Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir, Ozil has announced his retirement just two years on from his departure from the Emirates Stadium after a fractured end to his Gunners career.
Opening up on certain aspects of his playing days, the 34-year-old revealed he "started to cry" upon embarking for English shores having been "really happy" at Real Madrid. "I was very sad when I left Madrid. I remember that at the airport. When the plane in which I was leaving Madrid took off, I started to cry," he told Spanish newspaper Marca.
READ MORE: Latest Arsenal injury news as four miss Leeds with Bukayo Saka concern and Eddie Nketiah update
"I was really happy [at Real], but things happened. Suddenly, at the beginning of that season, I no longer had many playing minutes and a conflict arose between Mr Florentino Perez and my father and agent.
"We had to look for a new club. It was hard for me. The moment the plane took off, tears fell from my eyes. That was the moment I realised it was over... Of course, I wish we could have handled the situation at that time differently."
Read the full story here.
Behind-closed-doors friendly unlikely
Mikel Arteta is sure to have mixed feelings regarding the interruption to Arsenal’s league season. The international break has put a stop to the high-scoring league run of six games where his side have scored 19 goals.
However, there are some benefits to the stoppage after an injury to William Saliba against Sporting CP ruled the Frenchman out of action for the last league game before the break, leading to him pulling out of the France squad. The two weeks mean no league games are affected during this period of recovery, plus Gabriel Jesus, who returned against Fulham, has more time to get match fit.
Arteta has in the past used the international break to stage some behind-closed-door friendlies. Brentford and Watford, two close neighbours of the club have featured as well as Ipswich, however, this is unlikely to take place this time around.
football.london understands that with the volume of players away with their national sides, it is not likely that a game will happen. Arsenal have no senior midfielders at the club besides the injured Mohamed Elneny.
Read the full story here.
Potential fringe player summer exodus
Arsenal look set for yet another busy summer transfer window as the Gunners aim to build on their successful 2022/23 campaign.
Nine players are facing uncertain futures at the Emirates Stadium this summer, including club record signing Nicolas Pepe and Hale End star Folarin Balogun. According to CIES Football Observatory, the following players could see Arsenal receive a combined figure of £105million to reinvest in Arteta's squad.
- Nicolas Pepe - £8.7million
- Ainsley Maitland-Niles - £2.6million
- Albert Sambi Lokonga - £13.2million
- Nuno Tavares - £22million
- Pablo Mari - £2.6million
- Cedric Soares - £2.6million
- Alex Runarsson - £1million
- Kieran Tierney - £17.5million
- Folarin Balogun - £35million
Read the full story here.
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