Unai Emery bans Joachim Low from Arsenal’s training ground, after the German manager reportedly attempts to make peace with Mesut Ozil.
Mesut Ozil announced his retirement from international football after a dismal World Cup with Germany. Ozil insisted that the German football association did little to address his concerns surrounding the racial abuse he received, following his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to Bild, German manager Joachim Low attempted to contact Mesut Ozil earlier this week, but received no response. The Germany boss reportedly flew to London to arrange a meeting with Ozil, but was denied entry at Arsenal training ground on the orders of Arsenal’s head coach Unai Emery.
While he was in London yesterday, Joachim Löw went to Arsenal’s training ground in Colney to meet Mesut Özil. However, Löw wasn’t allowed inside the training centre with orders from Arsenal manager Unai Emery despite the meeting being planned with Özil’s camp [Bild] pic.twitter.com/6II6NfNVhB
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) September 25, 2018
However, British journalist Charles Watt reports that Joachim Low flew to London to meet former German defender Per Mertesacker, who announced his retirement from football after the end of 2017/18 season. On his visit, Low also met with Bernd Leno, Shkodran Mustafi, and head coach Unai Emery.
Mesut Ozil, he reports, was not at Colney at the time when Joachim Low visited the training ground, and has rubbished the reports claiming he was snubbed by the former German midfielder.
On Joachim Low visiting Colney. From what I understand, it was a planned visit to meet with Mertesacker. They had lunch together. He also met briefly with Leno, Mustafi and Emery. Ozil wasn’t at Colney at the time. Told suggestions Emery blocked Low seeing Mesut are rubbish.
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) September 26, 2018
In July, Mesut Ozil published a two-page statement, where he attacked the German football federation for their lack of support in the aftermath of the midfielder’s meeting with the Turkish president.
German footballer Toni Kroos later remarked that Ozil’s allegations were ‘nonsense’, and insisted that racism inside the German national team didn’t exist. Joachim Low also stated that the German FA never indulged in racial comments.
Arsenal will play Brentford in the Carabao Cup knock-out round later tonight. The Gunners are currently on 6th position in the Premier League, with 12 points from six matches. They will meet Watford on the weekend, who are fourth in the table.
