Arsenal's out of favour midfielder Mesut Ozil has said that he will leave on his own terms and plans to remain at the club until the end of his contract in 2021.
Ozil has not played a single minute since the Premier League resumed from its coronavirus-enforced pause in June with reports suggesting the Gunners want to pay-off the remaining year of his £350,000 (Dh1.7 million) per week deal
Manager Mikel Arteta insists the former Real Madrid player had been left out for "pure football reasons", although Ozil has been criticised for refusing to take a 12.5 per cent pay cut to help with the financial impact of the pandemic.
The 31-year-old had already lost his place in the team under previous manager Unai Emery but was back in the team when Freddie Ljungberg took over on an interim basis.
He has found himself ostracised again under Arteta and with seemingly little prospect of forcing his way back into the team.
"My position is clear," Ozil, who joined Arsenal in a £42.4m deal from Real Madrid in 2013, said in an interview with The Athletic.
“I’m here through to the last day of our agreement and I’ll give everything I have for this club. Situations like these will never break me, they only make me stronger.
"I showed in the past that I can come back into the team and I will show it again.
“I didn’t sign for two or three years, I signed for four and that should be respected by everyone.
"I love Arsenal, I love to work there, I love the people in the club – the real people, those I’ve been with for a long time – and I love London, it’s my home."
Ozil admitted that his decision to refuse a pay cut may have played his part in why he has again found himself sitting on the sidelines on matchdays.
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But he also says that all the players wanted to contribute “but we needed more information and many questions were unanswered ... were rushed into it without proper consultation" at the time.
Ozil described how "people have been trying for two years to destroy me" and hoped to "turn the supporters against me and paint a picture that is not true".
He added: “For anyone in this situation, you have a right to know everything, to understand why it is happening and where the money is going. But we didn’t get enough details, we just had to give a decision.
“People who know me know exactly how generous I am and, as far as I’m aware, I was not the only player who rejected the cut in the end, but only my name came out."
As for his future under Arteta, Ozil said: "I committed myself to Arsenal because this was the club and the fanbase I wanted to play for. In that sense, nothing has changed. Mikel knows my quality and I will be ready when he needs me."
