Opinion: Why Ozil needs to play for the remainder of the season

First of all, let me clear this at the start: I am 100% for Unai Emery. Players who can't adapt to his philosophy should indeed be offloaded.

Emery took over a club with an imbalanced squad and a messed up upper-level management and has achieved more than one could with this squad. Teams like Manchester City and Liverpool would not be where they are if Guardiola and Klopp got sacked due to a not-great first season.

Arsenal are currently fifth in the Premier League, one point off the Champions League spot. Things are currently not exactly going the way Unai Emery would've wanted as the Gunners were handed a shock defeat at the hands of BATE Borisov in the first leg of Europa League's round of 32.

Many fans are now turning on Emery because of the past three games against Man City, Huddersfield and BATE Borisov. These are games in which Arsenal did not create the number of chances the fans expected.

This outrage is mainly because of the fact that they do have a world-class playmaker in the Gunners' squad but Emery doesn't really rate him due to his work-rate. Even though Emery is right to drop Ozil (Gary Neville once said, "The players should adapt to the manager and not the other way around."), there are numerous reasons why he can't drop Ozil for the rest of the season, which are:

Market relevance:

If at all the club and the manager have decided to sell the German in the summer, no club is going to offer more than £20-25 million for him, considering the fact that he didn't even play more than half of the season.

For a self-sustainable model like Arsenal, this will hurt them because a player like Ozil can easily be worth £35-40m. This price tag is only possible for the Gunners if the player does play games and puts out a number of decent performances.

Frustration up-front:

When you have world-class strikers like Aubameyang and Lacazette up front, all you have to do is give them at least half-decent deliveries. That's all it takes for them to score. If the likes of Chelsea had Aubameyang and Lacazette with Hazard as a playmaker, they would be on a new level. Although Ozil has been nowhere near the level of Eden Hazard this season, he is capable of producing those magical moments if given the freedom and the opportunity. In games against BATE, Man City (away), and Liverpool (away) the pair upfront were undoubtedly frustrated because of the lack of supply to them by the midfield.

He can make an impact in the coming games:

Since those two games at the start of the season against City and Chelsea, Ozil has been in and out of the squad. The reasons were reported to be his illness and some games as tactical by the manager. Although whenever given the chance, Ozil has indeed been poor. But we all know what he is capable of. Looking at Arsenal's upcoming fixtures, and given his technical ability, Ozil can prove to be crucial in the race for the Champions League spot.

Conclusion:

If Emery wants to bring his players in the summer, Champions League football would prove to be the crucial part in those deals and for now, it looks difficult for the Gunners to grab that spot. For the remainder of the season, If Emery can take a little burden of the German by making Xhaka and Torreira cover for him, Arsenal's creativity issue upfront may get resolved.