Arsenal fans began the week with reports that Jerry Quy, the man who has played the role of beloved mascot Gunnersaurus for 27 years, was being let go by the club as they continue to cut costs in the midst of the financial devastation caused by Covid-19.

Gunnersaurus – an ever-present Gooner for almost three decades – was to be a goner.

Fans reacted with genuine distress at the news.

Piers Morgan, predictably, waded in to express his disgust, while Gunnersaurus received messages of support from as far and wide as Zenit St. Petersburg in the north of Russia to Sevilla in the south of Spain.

But just as fans feared for the jolly green giant’s future, in stepped Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil – the club’s top earner on £350,000 ($450,000) a week – who generously offered to save the doomed dino.  

“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,” Ozil wrote to his 22 million followers on Instagram.

“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.”

Arsenal have yet to give official word on the offer, but the gesture from Ozil was greeted with widespread praise on ‘Football Twitter’ – usually that most toxically tribal of digital arenas.

The more savvy observers, though, paused and wondered whether this wasn’t, in fact, a flex by Ozil to get one over on the Arsenal board as the German World Cup winner counts down the months until his contract ends next summer.  

This is, after all, a man who has again been frozen out of the team, with lingering questions over his commitment and ability to adapt to the kind of intense style favored under manager Mikel Arteta. 

Perhaps it was a gesture of magnanimity from one Arsenal outcast, Ozil, to another in the form of Gunnersaurus? 

In financial terms, however, the two Arsenal employees are much, much further apart. 

Unable to offload the 31-year-old Ozil due to his colossal wage demands, Arsenal are stuck with a player who continues to pick up a six-figure salary each week but has not played a single minute of competitive football since March.

Indeed, Ozil continues to receive his full salary having refused a pay cut when Covid-19 first struck, saying he felt the discussions over the step were “rushed.” 

His returns have dwindled on the pitch ever since he signed a lucrative extension to his contract in 2018.

While his defenders will point to injury niggles holding him back or a lack of fair chances under successive Arsenal managers, it’s hard to mask Ozil's alarming decline from a star who was once among the most gifted playmakers on the planet to an unused substitute shading himself under an umbrella on the bench (assuming he makes Arteta’s squad at all).

As one particularly scathing tweet mocked, maybe Arsenal were getting rid of 'the wrong dinosaur' when they went for Gunnersaurus.