Mesut Ozil is “not bothered” about Arsenal and showed his selfishness by going to Turkey instead of joining in with the team’s FA Cup celebrations, according to Perry Groves.
The Gunners lifted the trophy for the 14th time in their history after a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday, with two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cancelling out an early strike from Christian Pulisic.
The players, management and staff continued their celebrations well after the final whistle, but midfielder Ozil was not present.
The Germany international was not even in the country, having been granted permission to travel to Turkey after he had been informed he would not be in Mikel Arteta’s matchday squad.
Ozil posted an image of Aubameyang lifting the trophy on Instagram with the caption “great job my boys" shortly after the final whistle. But that was not enough to pacify former Gunners forward Groves, who is furious at what he perceives is a lack of respect shown by Ozil for his team-mates.
“That just sums him up all over. He’s not bothered about Arsenal, he’s just bothered about himself,” he told TalkSPORT.
“I wouldn’t want my teammates to think that I was that selfish. So it just means that he knows he’s done with Arsenal.
“[If I was his teammate] I wouldn’t even… Don’t text or WhatsApp me, do you know what I mean?
“If you’re not really bothered, don’t pretend you are.”
Ozil has not played a single minute of competitive action since English football resumed in June, suggesting he has no future under Mikel Arteta.
But with the 31-year-old earning a reported £350,000 per week, the club will be keen to move the player as soon as possible rather than have such an expensive asset sitting in the stands.
Ozil has been heavily linked with Fenerbahce in recent weeks, with a number of MLS clubs also reportedly keeping a close eye on his situation.
However, Ozil’s agent Erkut Sogut revealed last week that he expects the player to see out the remaining year of his contract in north London and become a free agent in the summer of 2021.