You’ll struggle to find a more divisive player in modern football.
Mesut Ozil’s fans will defend him to the death whilst his critics lap up his supposed tendency to disappear in big games.
But one big constant in the last eight years has been the Arsenal midfielder’s presence in major tournament games for his country.
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Since Ozil first made a splash back in October 2009, he has been the only player to feature in every single one of Joachim Loew’s matches at either World Cups or European Championships.
Until now.
According to ESPN, Loew is considering dropping Ozil in favour of Julian Draxler – and the decision isn’t purely for footballing reasons either.
Their sources claim that the German boss is unhappy with the conduct shown by Ozil and team-mate Ilkay Gundogan with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Ozil and Gundogan, both of whom have Turkish heritage, met with the controversial figure during his visit to the UK last month.
Diplomatic tensions between Germany and Turkey are already strained and the likes of German chancellor Angela Merkel have criticised the duo, with Erdogan banned from campaigning in Germany itself.
And Loew supposedly agrees with his chancellor, who believes the stunt has caused unnecessary distractions in the build up to Russia.
Germany get their World Cup defence underway against Mexico on Sunday – but it looks like neither Ozil nor Gundogan will play from the start.