Mesut Ozil is better off retiring if he cannot get into Arsenal's starting line-up, Paul Merson has stated.
Ozil missed his 100th Gunners game on Thursday despite being fully fit and participating in training this week as Unai Emery's side lost 1-0 to BATE Borisov.
Arsenal's highest-paid player on £350,000 a week, Ozil has started just three of the club's last 12 games and was excluded from the matchday squad entirely on six occasions.
"You play your best players and work around them," Merson said on Sky Sports News. "Ozil is Arsenal's best player and he doesn't play, it beats me.
"He must sit at home and watch Arsenal and think 'how am I not getting into this team?'
Pictures | BATE 1 vs 0 Arsenal | 14/02/19
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"I don't know if they are trying to push him into retirement, because he must sit there and think he might as well retire if he can't get into Arsenal team."
Ozil has registered just one assist in the Premier League this season, starting 13 of Arsenal's 26 games, but Merson says the German is far too influential to exclude.
He continued: "Ozil is not so influential that you have to build a team around him, but he has to play because he is their best player," he added.
"He's not going to run around and put sliding tackles in, that is never going to happen, but he makes things happen.
"Arsenal have to stick with him, they are not good enough not to have him in the team."
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