Mikel Arteta must stick with ‘Bergkamp-esque’ Mesut Ozil as he is too talented to leave out, says Tony Adams who jokes that even he’d struggle to play with David Luiz
Tony Adams has urged Mikel Arteta to make use of Mesut Ozil at Arsenal - insisting the playmaker is too 'talented' to leave out.
The midfielder has not played a single minute of first-team football since the Premier League restarted last month.
Ozil, who is Arsenal’s highest paid player with a £350,000-a-week deal, has failed to make seven of the ten matchday squads during that time.
And Adams, who won four titles for the Gunners in 19 years at the club, believes the 31-year-old must be given a run in the team for the remainder of the season.
“As a coach those kind of players can really make or break you," Adams told talkSPORT's Sports Breakfast show.
“If you don’t get the results and you have a player like that on the sidelines that you’re not using, everyone’s going to point to it.
“If you’re getting results and no ones looking they’re going to say: ‘Get him out of the club, he’s not needed.”
“He’s a talent. The guy can win games. He’s a bit like Dennis Bergkamp, a World Cup winner and can open up doors.
“There would be a place in my team if they toughened up behind him to be honest with you.
“That is the job of the coach to get the best out of his squad of players - not to avoid it and say: ‘No good, don’t want you.’
“The board should say to him: ‘These are your players - go and work with them.’
“He’s paid so much money.”
Adams also revealed a conversation he had with Pat Rice, with the former player and coach joking that even someone as formidable as Adams would struggle in a backline with David Luiz.
"He told me that anybody could play with me. But even I'd struggle with Luiz!"
The 53-year-old also slammed Arsenal's recruitment policy and blasted Gunners chiefs as 'out of their depth'.
A lack of investment in the squad has seen the north London club fall significantly behind Liverpool and Man City in their quest for dominance in the English football.
”My fundamental issue is with recruitment," he continued. I think the club is going through such a recruitment issue at the moment.
“It's not relying on agents. Thats not the way to go. it's not Arsenal DNA i'm afraid. I don't like it. I've got to say it publicly.
“Steve Rowley took 40 years to build that scouting network – it did brilliantly and got the best players from around the world. And it's just been blown up.
“Edu, I love him, he's a beautiful man, it's not personal, but he has no experience of building European squads.
“Even Raul Sanllehi, came from Barcelona, all the money in the world, it don't look like he's going to get money.”
“Those people are out of their depth, I'm sorry.
“They need to build a fantastic squad that challenges for the league and it hurts."