Arsenal may be trying to get rid of Mesut Ozil but Lucas Torreira rates the German as ‘quality’ and a player he is delighted to be teammates with.

Unai Emery and/or Arsenal want rid of Mesut Ozil, that much is clear.

Whatever is going on behind the scenes – and there is clearly something going on behind the scenes – Arsenal are doing all they can to force Ozil from the club 12 months after handing him the biggest contract in Arsenal’s history.

In an interview on Arsenal.com, Lucas Torriera talks about arriving at Arsenal and wanting to stay for a long time but it was his comments about the midfielder that caught my eye.

“It’s also been great to be able to play alongside some truly world-class players,” Torreira said.

“I sit in the dressing room between Mesut Ozil and Alex Lacazette. Mesut and Laca are fantastic players and people. They bring in that quality touch that the team needs. They dictate the tempo in every play of the game. Laca is in great scoring form, which is really important for us.

“When I arrived at the club they told me that my closet in the locker room was going to be in between Laca and Mesut. I would have never imagined or dreamed of something like that. I am privileged to live all this at the age of 23.”

Arsenal have been shopping Ozil around Europe and China trying to find a club who can afford his wages. They’ve offered him to Inter Milan, again, but the Italians are not interested because of the obscene amount of money Ivan Gazidis okayed to stop Ozil leaving on a free. Even Arsene Wenger was said to be reluctant to pay that sort of cash to the player.

Fans, meanwhile, are left wondering why one of their best creative players is being slowly destroyed by the club after a summer that saw his entire country turn on him.

Unless something is revealed that shows Ozil behaving poorly behind the scenes, we will look back at the way he has been treated and wonder just what, exactly, was it all supposed to achieve?