Mesut Ozil reportedly visited Unai Emery in his office at Arsenal’s training ground after discovering that the Spaniard had been dismissed.
The Gunners relieved Emery of his duties at the end last month after a dismal start to the season in which the side managed just four wins from 13 games in the Premier League.
A miserable 2-1 defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back and Freddie Ljungberg has taken over the reins as caretaker manager for the time being.
Arsenal are now sounding out potential managerial candidates, with Brendan Rodgers, Massimiliano Allegri, Mauricio Pochettino and Niko Kovac all thought to be on the club’s shortlist to succeed Emery.
One key issue for whoever takes charge will be to solve the riddle that is Ozil. After all, one of the major talking points of Emery’s short tenure was his handling of Arsenal’s top earner and highest-profile player.
It’s understood Emery was less than impressed with Ozil’s work-rate and performance level in training throughout his stay and the German found himself exiled from the first-team on a number of occasions.
However, according to The Athletic, Ozil put his differences with Emery to one side after the manager’s sacking and paid him a visit – along with the rest of the squad – in his office at Arsenal’s London Colney training complex.
Emery also received messages of support from Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal who departed the club in the summer.
The report claims that while Emery was saddened by the sudden nature of his dismissal, he valued how he was treated by the club’s hierarchy from that point on.
Former Tottenham boss Pochettino was directly asked about the rumours linking him with Arsenal last week and the Argentine refused to rule out a move to the Emirates.
‘It’s important to have a moment of calm to lower the decibels and find the energy to take on a new project, and we’ll see where that is,’ he told TyC Sports.
‘I’m going to spend a few days here [in Rosario] with my family and friends, and then I’ll return to London.’
Arsenal legend Martin Keown hopes to see someone with top-level experience come in and replace Ljungberg as he never saw the Swede as management material during their playing days.
‘He’s a fiercely competitive individual,’ the ex-Arsenal defender told talkSPORT.
‘I never saw him as management or a coach, he was quite an individualistic player, he did everything his own way, but that maybe helps him to be a very good manager.
‘We shouldn’t expect a magic wand because this has been a problem that’s been in the making for some time. Emery obviously inherited it and he didn’t find a solution.
‘It was about changing personnel, recruitment so you needed central defenders that wanted to defend, loved defending, they’re not there.
‘We need different midfield players. The likes of Ozil, if they don’t want to toe the line, they don’t want to play, for now you’ll have to upset one or two.’
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