- Mesut Ozil is now a major doubt for World Cup after suffering a knee problem
- Ozil trained separately from the rest of the squad on Wednesday, June 6
- But the Arsenal playmaker may not be fully fit for Russia, according to reports in Germany
Arsenal’s German midfielder Mesut Ozil is reportedly a major doubt for Die Mannschaft as the Premier League star is currently down with a knee problem few days to the world’s football showpiece in Russia.
According to the UK Sun quoting sources at Germany’s influential newspaper, Bild claim that the Gunners’ playmaker has been frozen out of the team’s training season for over three days ahead of the commencement of hostilities in Russia.
The 29-year-old-midfielder was in scoring for Germany Ozil in a 2-1 pre-World Cup friendly loss to Austria last weekend, before he was substituted with 14 minutes of play left on the watch.
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That apart, the Arsenal midfielder has not fared well since suffering a first-half collision with Watford’s centre-back Sebastian Prodl during the match.
And television images showed Ozil clutching his knee thereafter.
During Wednesday’s training session, the playmaker failed to turn up with other squad members as could only participate in fitness and conditioning routines.
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Later, Ozil took to bike exercise as other squad members trained separately.
The report further revealed that the Arsenal man was alleged to have also missed out of a planning team meeting.
In the closing weeks of the season, Ozil could not take part in four Premier League fixtures at Arsenal due to a recurring back problem.
At press time, eggheads of the Germany national team are yet to react on the Ozil issue.
The Germans are the defending champions at Russia 2018 and have been tipped as second best behind Brazil by bookmakers
On Friday, they will square up against Saudi Arabia on Friday night in their final pre-World Cup friendly.
Germany battle Mexico in their opening game on Sunday, June 17 before two other group games against Sweden and South Korea on June 23 and June 27 respectively.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously had reported that Manchester City attacker Leroy Sane has been surprisingly dropped from Germany's World Cup team to Russia.
Coach Joachim Low announced his final 23-man list and the Premier League's PFA Young Player of the Year was clearly missing from the team.
Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made the cut after an eight-month absence from injury and featured in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Austria.
Nigeria can get to the quarterfinal of World Cup - Ex-Super Eagles star Etim Esin - - on NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng
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