Arsenal's Mesut Ozil left out of Germany squad

Arsenal's Mesut Ozil has been left out of the Germany squad for their friendly matches this month

Arsenal's Mesut Ozil has been left out of Germany's squad for their friendly games against France and the Netherlands.

Germany manager Joachim Low has also not selected Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos for the games, citing the lack of a winter break in England and Spain as his reason for doing so.

Low has recalled Besiktas centre-forward Mario Gomez after a 13-month absence from international duty while Schalke midfielder Leroy Sane and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, of Paris St Germain, are in line to make their debuts.

"We start with the preparations for France now, and we will test a few formations," said Low.

"But I also have the players' strain in my mind. The season is long and some foreign leagues are even without a mid-season break.

"That's also the reason why I didn't call up Mesut Ozil and Toni Kroos this time. We want to test some alternatives on their positions."

Germany squad to face France and the Netherlands:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover).

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), Jonas Hector (Koln), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Antonio Rudiger (Roma), Sebastian Rudy (Hoffenheim).

Midfielders: Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen), Emre Can (Liverpool), Julian Draxler (Wolfsburg), Ilkay Gundogan (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Christoph Kramer (Bayer Leverkusen), Leroy Sane (Schalke), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United).

Forwards: Mario Gomez (Besiktas), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Max Kruse (Wolfsburg), Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray), Andre Schurrle (Wolfsburg), Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim).