Mourinho tribute to ex-Arsenal boss Wenger: We had some episodes

Asked about Ozil's problems during a Q+A at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco, Wenger said: 'I feel that the length of the contract has nothing to do normally with the selection of the team.

Mourinho regularly clashed with Wenger during his time at Chelsea and Manchester United, and once famously labelled the former Arsenal manager as a "specialist in failure".

"There were some episodes along the road", Mourinho said in a recorded message at Monday night's Laureus World Sports Awards.

"He made lots of history in that football club".

Wenger also pushed Mourinho during the Portuguese's second stint in charge of Chelsea before he went on to manage Manchester United. The nickname is there - the 'Invincibles.' Amazing. "Amazing. A coaching philosophy, the nearly ideal team".

The 30-year-old has featured in just one of Arsenal's past seven league games, and it continues to appear that manager Unai Emery does not trust the 2014 FIFA World Cup victor to play to his instruction.

'Most of the time now we think when we sign a player for five years we have a good player for five years.

'We spoke about Brazil, in Brazil they had a player that I bought, Gilberto Silva, who had a similar role in 2002 in the success of the Brazilian national team in Japan'.

Unai Emery has been sparing in his use of Mesut Ozil this season, with the German star only featuring only 18 times under him so far. "Because they might be in their comfort zone", Wenger said. And to maintain the value of the player, beyond the Özil case, it is more about the way football is structured. To have a successful team you need to have somebody, or some players, who sacrifice themselves for the team. "So the decision you have to make is whether you re-sign the player, who costs us nothing, or do we have the money to buy a new player?"