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LONDON (Reuters) – Mesut Ozil and Bosnian Siad Kolachinatis (Arsenal) will not play in the first game of the Premier League season due to "more security events" related to the players, Arsenal announced on Friday.
Arsenal, which opens its season against Newcastle United on Sunday, said: "Mesut Ozil and Siad Kolachinatas will not be part of the team in our opening match against Newcastle United after new security incidents have taken place. been investigated by the police. "
The question is related to Ozil's exposure last month to an attempted theft in North London, in a scene widely circulated on social media and showing his colleague and friend Collachinatas fighting with their own hands the attackers .
Both players missed the friendly match against Arsenal (1-2) on July 28, just days away from the attack. Their Spanish coach, Unai Emery, acknowledged that he was not in a good state of mind after their ordeal.
The Mirror newspaper reported on Friday that Arsenal's reason for making the move was due to suspicious moves on Thursday night near players' homes in North London, citing a source saying the players were "terrified" and fearing for their safety and that of their families. To see if what happened was an individual or an organized gang.
"The safety of our players and their families is always a top priority and we made that decision after discussions with the players and their representatives," Arsenal said Friday, "we contact the police and provide ongoing support to our players and their families."
"We are looking forward to welcoming the players to the team as quickly as possible," he said. "We will not make any further comment on this issue."
Collachinatas, the so-called "tank", appeared in a video surveillance camera jumping from a luxury SUV driven by Ozil to deal with masked badailants who left the bike in Golds Green's area of the capital.
The badailants waved the knives in front of the 26-year-old Arsenal back who seemed to have been fighting hard.
The Sun reported that the attackers attempted to reach Ozil's car, parked in front of the Kolachinatas' house.
He then chased the attackers about a mile away from Ozil's car, who then stopped after throwing stones and bricks at the windows.
Ozil and his wife, Amina Gulshi, got out of the car and ran off to a Turkish restaurant down the street, where the staff rushed to help them chase the gang before the police arrived. .
"Two motorcyclists would have tried to steal someone driving a car," a police spokesman told AFP.
"The driver and a pbadenger managed to escape unharmed and settled in a restaurant in Golds Green where police spoke to them.
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