Sokratis Papastathopoulos has stated that under-fire Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil is one of the most important players at the club and that is why Unai Emery needs him to remain at the Emirates.
The Arsenal faithful will be a relieved fanbase after the Gunners overcame a 1-0 deficit against BATE Borisov in the Europa League on Thursday night. The North London outfit turned the tie around and ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in the second leg, but all the focus was on Mesut Ozil.
The midfielder returned back into the starting eleven after barely featuring for Arsenal this whole year. Ozil was tipped to leave Arsenal in the January transfer window after reports of a breakdown with manager Unai Emery, who decided to drop the 30-year-old in crunch games on regular basis.
Despite limited game time this year under Emery, Arsenal fans and even players are aware of how important the midfield maestro is when he is fit and firing. Ozil is on a £350,000 a week contract with the Gunners but the World Cup winner is keen to play football for Arsenal on a regular basis.
Even Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos went onto to praise the German star and stated that Ozil’s presence was one of the big reasons as to why Arsenal won against BATE Borisov.
The central defender spoke to reporters after the win and said,
“He played very good, Mesut is a fantastic player and when he is fit he is one of the most important players in the team.
“Of course, when something is not going good, everybody is there to criticize but we have to see also what Mesut did in the last years for this team.
“All the team, all the players are behind him and we need a good Mesut to go (forward) because we know that he is very important for us. Mesut is very important, he is a very good guy and we need him”
