Wenger hits back at Scholes' criticism of Arsenal midfielder Ozil
Arsene Wenger claims Paul Scholes "would have loved to play with Mesut Ozil" despite his claim that the German was 'going through the motions' at Arsenal.
The Gunners boss was invited to defend his £42.5m signing after criticism from the former Manchester United midfielder.
'Over the years, the big players who were really ambitious - [Patrick] Vieira, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie - have all left,' wrote Scholes in the Evening Standard. 'They left for the simple reason that Arsenal are not in it to win league titles any more.
'Those players have realised that if they want to win championships then they have to move elsewhere. It's why I think Mesut Ozil took the easy option joining Arsenal.
'Since he has been there you cannot doubt his quality but at times he looks like he is going through the motions, however much ground he covers.
'He needs a leader around him to get him going. At Real Madrid he had a chance of winning league titles. At Arsenal that is not on the cards.'
Wenger responded by saying: "It is not fair; a player like Paul Scholes would have loved to play with Mesut Ozil.
"He has the quality and he works a lot harder than his style of play shows. You can be cheated by his style of play because he's fluent, easy and he doesn't look like he puts the effort in, but he does."
Statistics show that Ozil has run more kilometres than any other Arsenal player since he returned from injury on February 1.
