Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil hasn't been seen on the pitch this season after Gunners gaffer Mikel Arteta decided not to include the World Cup-winning playmaker in his Premier League squad.
Nonetheless, Ozil's presence - or more accurately, lack of - has remained an underlying narrative of Arsenal's season.
That's in part because the north London side have seriously struggled in the Premier League this term, a staggering eight losses pushing them down to a lowly 15th in the table, with a lack of creativity being perhaps their most fundamental weakness right now.
Arsenal rank 16th for key passes this season, having only registered seven more than rock-bottom Sheffield United, and the manner in which the Gunners have resultantly turned to continual crosses to try and create goalscoring opportunities has become a subject of much discussion.
But Ozil's shadow also looms large because he's remained vocal on social media. He directly addressed Arsenal's decision to omit him from their Premier League squad back in October and has continued to discuss Gunners matters online, albeit usually from a positive perspective.
The former German star discussed all matters Arsenal again on Thursday night when he held his own Q&A session on his Twitter account, with some of his responses to fan questions seemingly being thinly-veiled swipes at his employers.
That included a glowing endorsement of Aaron Ramsey, who Arsenal controversially decided to allow to leave on a free transfer in summer 2019 after the Welshman had thought he'd reached an agreement over a new contract.
Ozil also named Matteo Guendouzi as the most underrated player he's played with - the young Frenchman was frozen out by Arteta due to discipline problems before being sent out on loan to Hertha Berlin.
The 32-year-old went on to claim he wishes "he could help the team right now", and hopes "that we get better results very soon".
And Ozil threw further shade on Arteta by describing one of his predecessors, Arsene Wenger, as a "fantastic manager", before declaring that he's being missed by a number of people at the north London club right now.
Perhaps Ozil's remarks were purely innocent, but it's certainly interesting that a significant portion of his answers involved either figures who have recently left the club or those stuck on the fringes - he also named Sead Kolasinac, who has plummeted down the pecking order this season, as the Arsenal team-mate who is best at Fortnite.
Maybe it's just pure coincidence, however there are some inevitable conclusions to draw from the recurring theme in Ozil's answers - pure saltiness.