Mesut Ozil may not have played a minute of football for Arsenal since Project Restart but he was still handed an £8million loyalty bonus last month, reports claim.
Despite being the club’s highest-paid player, Ozil has been cast aside by Gunners boss MIkel Arteta and he wasn’t even registered for their Europa League squad.
Arsenal were keen to move him on this summer but the Germany international has been insistent that he wants to see out the final year of his contract.
While the Gunners are keen for him to leave, they still were forced to pay him a significant sum after a loyalty bonus was placed into his 2018 contract extension, according to The Athletic.
When signing a new three-and-a-year deal that January, Arsenal were determined to keep the German World Cup winner and handed him a heavily incentivised deal worth £350,000-a-week.
Although Arsenal chiefs had to fork out £8m for him staying at the club, they are saving significant sums of money by not playing Ozil.
His contract contains appearance-related bonuses, which he is not receiving while on the sidelines.
Whether he plays again for Arsenal remains to be seen.
Having already been left out of the Europa League squad, he could find himself out of Arsenal’s Premier League squad.
Arsenal will submit their squad list ahead of October 20 once the domestic transfer window has shut.
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