Salaman Ekinci and Ferhat Ercun have both pleaded not guilty to causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after an incident involving Mesut Özil and Sead Kolasinac.

The two men appeared in court on Friday, after being charged under Section 4a of the Public Order Act on August 8th. They both deny behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards a security guard outside Özil’s house.

For those who missed it, Özil and Kolasinac were seemingly involved in a carjacking last month. Kolasinac had to fight the attackers off before fleeing the scene and calling the police from a local restaurant.

The incident, as well as further security threats, affected both players’ participation in pre-season and forced them both to miss the opening game of the competitive campaign against Newcastle.

Kolasinac has since returned to the team, starting in the draw against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. Özil, however, is still yet to play a single minute of the new season, and only made the bench for the first time against Spurs.

It’s a real shame that the pair have had to deal with these kinds of off-the-pitch issues when they should have been free to focus on their football. The sooner the case can be wrapped up, the better.