Mesut Ozil names his best Arsenal XI in Q&A session

Mesut Ozil has named some surprising choices in his best XI of Arsenal players since he joined the club back in 2013.

The World Cup winning midfielder was famously left out of the Gunners' Premier League squad back at the start of the season and has become little more than an expensive Twitter cheerleader for the club in recent months as speculation continues around his future.

The 32-year-old's contract at the Emirates Stadium does not expire until 2021, while his high wages - commonly reported to be around £350k a week - have made him a difficult player to shift from the books.

Teams in Turkey and the USA have been strongly linked with a move for Ozil now that the transfer window has re-opened, though Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has not ruled out reintegrating the attacking midfielder into his squad.

While his off-field stand-off continues, Ozil took part in a Twitter Q&A session on Monday night, taking questions from his fans.

Among them he was asked for the best Arsenal XI 'in the era you played for the club'.

Ozil named a starting lineup of: David Ospina, Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Sead Kolasinac, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Serge Gnabry, Alexis Sanchez, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and himself.

Perhaps tellingly, only one of the 11 - not including himself - is currently at Arsenal as of January 2021.

Many comments questioned the decision to pick Kolasinac who joined Schalke 04 on loan earlier this month, though many pointed to the Bosnian's heroic role in fighting off armed attackers from Ozil in 2019.

Ozil, however, ruled out joining Kolasinac at Schalke later, adding in response to another question: "Don’t want to steal @seadk6 the show.

"No, to be honest I will always have sympathy for and I wish them all the best from the bottom of my heart. But it’s not really an option for me right now..."

Also, in the Q&A, Ozil confirmed his preferred Turkish team as Fenerbahce writing: "I grew up as a Fenerbahce fan as a kid in Germany - every German-Turkish person supports a Turkish team when they grow up in Germany. And mine was Fenerbahce.

"Fenerbahce is like Real Madrid in Spain. The biggest club in the country."

The comment is sure to fan the flames of transfer gossip, with Fener among the clubs linked with a move for Ozil.

90min previously reported that Ozil had agreed a pre-contract deal with Fenerbahce. However, rather than waiting until June to link up with his teammates, he could instead join this month, with the Gunners agreeing to pay his wages while he spends the rest of the season on loan in Istanbul.