The dinosaur mascot was made redundant on Monday
Mesut Özil has offered to pay the salary of the man inside the Gunnersaurus costume, Jerry Quy, after news broke that he had been made redundant after 27 years of service.
Arsenal recently announced 55 redundancies as part of a cost cutting exercise in response to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with no fans allowed to watch games in stadiums. As a part time job, Quy's role of of being Gunnersaurus on match days is not technically included in those 55 jobs, but the club have deemed it unnecessary while the Emirates remains empty.
The news was met with fury from many fans, who expressed their support to Quy, who has been their mascot since 1993.
Former player Ian Wright tweeted about the news, pleading with the club to ensure Quy would be reinstated in his role once fans returned to the stadium.
https://twitter.com/IanWright0/status/1313071465647017984
And now current player Mesut Özil has taken aim at his employers, tweeting: "I was so sad that Jerry Quy aka our famous & loyal mascot Gunnersaurus and integral part of our club was being made redundant after 27 years.
"As such, I’m offering to reimburse Arsenal with the full salary of our big green guy as long as I will be an Arsenal player so Jerry can continue his job that he loves so much."
He then added his customary hashtags #M1Ö, #YaGunnersYa and added #JusticeForGunnersaurus just to emphasise his point.
A cynic might argue this is an opportunistic piece of self promotion from the German, who has been outcast from the club for months and has not played a part this season in any game.
Someone more naive might think it is a gesture made purely from the goodness of his heart. Either way, he's made the club look a bit silly.
