Mesut Özil claimed he’s ‘ready’ in a social media post on Tuesday, ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures against champions Liverpool.

ST ALBANS, ENGLAND - JULY 14: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal during a training session at London Colney on July 14, 2020 in St Albans, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
ST ALBANS, ENGLAND: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal during a training session at London Colney on July 14, 2020. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Özil proclaimed “I am ready” on his social media pages on Tuesday night. The 31-year-old made his return to team training this week, following an injury. He’s clearly keen to get across that he’s back and available to play again.

For the past few weeks, Özil’s situation was a bit of mystery. At first, he missed the trip to Manchester City completely. Then, he returned to the squad against Brighton and Southampton, but couldn’t even get off the bench for a minute.

After that, the playmaker stopped making the squad again, with Arsenal claiming he had back soreness. Bizarrely, they consistently claimed he was ‘being assessed’ before every match, as if he were close to a comeback, even though he wasn’t even in training.

Mikel Arteta didn’t clear things up either, giving vague answers about how Özil was “still in the same position” and that they’ll “manage everything internally”. Not the usual comments you hear about an injured player.

The good news is that he’s clearly passing himself fit now. Whether that leads to squad appearances and minutes on the pitch, we’ll find out this week.

Özil was on a good run of form pre-lockdown, starting in each of Arsenal’s three wins before the break. He scored one and assisted one, and the team could certainly use that kind of form now.