Arsene Wenger has confirmed that German trio Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski will miss the start of the Premier League. They were part of the German squad that won the World Cup at the Maracana on July, 13th 2014, beating Argentina in the process. Arsene Wenger said while confirming their return date:
“Our World Cup winners are back on the 11th August. They will miss the start of the Premier League.”
The Premier League starts on the weekend of 16th August, the German trio would have had just few days of training when they return. Besides the start of the Premier League which they are expected to miss, they will not be part of the squad that will play in the Community Shield match this weekend.
Arsene Wenger dwelled further on how it would take the German trio some time before they would regain their sharpness
“It’s not ideal but the final of the World Cup was on July 13 and when they went back to Germany, they lost a few days for celebrations,” Le Prof said
“They played seven games at the World Cup [in addition to] the whole English season. Having the experience of a team that has won the World Cup [always] makes it difficult mentally to come back and be sharp and hungry straight away again.
“You have the choice – you get them back very quickly and you lose them in October, or you give them a needed rest to build them up again.
“They have an individual programme that they follow so they could be very quick.”
Going by Arsene Wenger’s comment, it would take some time before they would have the mental sharpness to regain their drive once again.
The German trio was to have arrived this week, but Arsene Wenger gave them an extended one week break.
Already some of the German players have returned to training with their club ala Toni Kroos who returned to training at Real Madrid this week, together with the Argentine players.
Although it must be said that Arsene Wenger emphasised that the German players would have been drained mentally by the celebration after winning the World Cup.
What it means is that the German players could have returned much earlier, but Arsene Wenger chooses to go with the safer option by giving them an additional one week break so that they can recharge their batteries before the season enters it full trot.
