This archive report was first published on 18 October 2019.
On October 18, 2019, Arsenal manager Unai Emery praised an "improved" Mesut Ozil, but refused to give any guarantees of a recall after a miserable start to the season for the German playmaker.
Emery admitted that the car-jacking attempt targeting Ozil and team-mate Sead Kolasinac in July had disturbed the midfielder's pre-season, but said the former Real Madrid player was slowly winning his confidence back in training.
"With Mesut, this year started in a difficult way for him. In pre-season he worked well and was playing matches, but then he had the problems with Sead and it stopped," Emery said.
"The last two or three weeks, he's improved with us in training and I think he's feeling good," Emery added.
Emery's comments came as Ozil, the club's highest earner, told The Athletic that despite his lack of game time, he has no plans to walk away from the club until his contract expires in two years' time.
"You can go through difficult times, like this, but that is no reason to run away and I'm not going to," said Ozil. "I'm here until at least 2021."
