Unai Emery, the Arsenal manager, says he feels no pressure to pick Mesut Ozil just because he is the club’s highest earner.

No one better personifies than the German the changes that have occurred at the Emirates since Emery replaced Arsene Wenger as manager in the summer.

In January, at a time of intense speculation over Wenger’s future and having seen Alexis Sanchez depart for Manchester United, Arsenal made the 30-year-old the best-paid player in their history through a 3½-year deal worth £350,000 a week.

Eleven months on, Ozil finds himself a fringe player who does not fit into the Spaniard’s tactical revamp. He has not started a Premier League match since Nov 11 and was not even in the squad for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat by Tottenham. Emery, who described that omission as “tactical”, confirmed that the playmaker was back in contention for Saturday’s visit of Burnley and could start. But the former Paris St-Germain manager, who will make his players train on Christmas Day, made it clear Ozil’s superstar status under Wenger had been completely eradicated.

“The player’s salary is not important for me, I don’t know the players’ salary because, for me, they are the same,” he said. “Every player, I want to give them the same conversation or the same decision for play or not play. The most important thing for me is to be OK training every day with good behaviour and good commitment and giving us their quality. I understand some players outside give us more news, but for me it’s the same.”