All the latest Arsenal news and transfer gossip including updates on Mesut Ozil, Mikel Arteta's transfer plans and the international break
Mesut Ozil's Arsenal tears
Mesut Ozil has admitted signing for Arsenal in the summer of 2013 reduced him to tears as he embarked on his north London venture.
Opening up on certain aspects of his playing days, the 34-year-old revealed he "started to cry" upon embarking for English shores having been "really happy" at Real Madrid. "I was very sad when I left Madrid. I remember that at the airport. When the plane in which I was leaving Madrid took off, I started to cry," he told Spanish newspaper Marca.
"I was really happy [at Real], but things happened. Suddenly, at the beginning of that season, I no longer had many playing minutes and a conflict arose between Mr Florentino Perez and my father and agent.
"We had to look for a new club. It was hard for me. The moment the plane took off, tears fell from my eyes. That was the moment I realised it was over... Of course, I wish we could have handled the situation at that time differently."
Behind-closed-doors friendly unlikely
Mikel Arteta is sure to have mixed feelings regarding the interruption to Arsenal’s league season. The international break has put a stop to the high-scoring league run of six games where his side have scored 19 goals.
Arteta has in the past used the international break to stage some behind-closed-door friendlies. Brentford and Watford, two close neighbours of the club have featured as well as Ipswich, however, this is unlikely to take place this time around.
football.london understands that with the volume of players away with their national sides, it is not likely that a game will happen. Arsenal have no senior midfielders at the club besides the injured Mohamed Elneny.
Potential fringe player summer exodus
Arsenal look set for yet another busy summer transfer window as the Gunners aim to build on their successful 2022/23 campaign.
Nine players are facing uncertain futures at the Emirates Stadium this summer, including club record signing Nicolas Pepe and Hale End star Folarin Balogun. According to CIES Football Observatory, the following players could see Arsenal receive a combined figure of £105million to reinvest in Arteta's squad.