Arsene Wenger believes Mesut Ozil and Arsenal's disagreements go beyond sport.

The German playmaker has not played a single minute for the Gunners since the 2019-20 season restart.

And former Arsenal boss Wenger is at a loss to explain why Ozil has been frozen out.

"I don't know what's happening on a daily basis, I will just say one thing," he said. "Creative players are perfectionists, they are a bit more sensitive and sometimes they need to be encouraged because, of course, if I want to play a risky pass I need to be confident. Creative players make the pass that makes a team dangerous.

"Mesut Ozil is an exceptional football player. What happens at the moment between him and the club looks to be more confrontational. It's not based only on sport.

"If Ozil cannot play in the Europa League, I'm sorry, but this guy has won things, he's a world champion, he's an exceptional football player.

"Why is he not playing at the moment? I don't know. When you're a football player you have to respect the decision of your manager and fight to get the confidence back and fight to get back in the team. He can fight, contrary to what people think. He has enough quality to get back into the team, that's down to him now."

Asked why Ozil is not in Arteta's plans, Wenger said: "I don't know.

"I believe he can play in the Premier League. You practice every day and you make sure if it doesn't work you can go and play somewhere else."