Mesut Özil given time off to recover from back spasms in hope of recapturing his best form after recent slump

Özil was absent from Arsenal's FA Cup victory over Sutton United on Monday and has flown back to Germany to spend time with his family

Mesut Özil has flown back to Germany after being time off by Arsenal (Getty)

Mesut Özil has been given a week off by Arsenal in an attempt to allow the midfielder to recover from back spasms, which could be the root cause of the World Cup winner’s run of poor form this year.

The 28-year-old Özil has not scored in 2017 and his drop-off in performance has coincided with Arsenal falling even further away from Premier League leaders Chelsea, along with suffering the 5-1 humbling at Bayern Munich that leaves them on the brink of a seventh consecutive Champions League last-16 exit.

After receiving plenty of criticism for his lacklustre display at the Allianz Arena last week, Özil was given time off by manager Arsene Wenger, with the Germany international taking to his Instagram page to reveal a picture of himself way from the rest of the squad as they faced Sutton United on Monday night in a 2-0 FA Cup fifth round victory.

Özil has travelled abroad to fly back home to Germany and spend some time with his family this week, with Arsenal not having a fixture at the weekend as they were due to face EFL Cup finalists Southampton, with the fixture being postponed so that Saints can take on Manchester United in Sunday’s final at Wembley.

He still retains the faith of Wenger though, with the Arsenal manager not ready to drop him from the first-team, and will be brought back into the first-team squad in time for the Premier League trip to Anfield a week on Saturday.

As part of his time off, Özil will also travel to Turkey, before arriving back in north London before the end of the week to resume training with the rest of the squad – who have not been given any additional time off after Monday’s victory at Gander Green Lane.

The former Real Madrid midfielder has scored eight goals this season, five of which have come in the Premier League, but has seen his number of assists drop dramatically from last season to just four so far in the top flight, compared to his total number of 19 last term.

Contract talks with Özil also appear to have stalled again, with little progress in tying down the German to a new deal despite him nearing the final 12 months of the five-year contract he signed in 2013 when he arrived as the club’s £42.5m record signing. Both Özil and Alexis Sanchez have demanded wages of around £250,000-a-week – a significant increase on their current £140,000 and £130,000 weekly salaries – and the club are not willing to be held to ransom even if it means they have to sell their two prize assets this summer to avoid losing them for nothing in 2018.