Eminently plausible. Weakest link is the truth of the $350k speculation; if there's proof then I'm convinced this take is at least some of the truth.
I used to think the management wanted Ozil out because we couldn't afford him. They gave him mild hints like drop him for the odd game and accept loan offers for him. When it was clear Ozil would rather stay and work harder, they decided to take drastic action. Theory holds up in its simplicity, but it doesn't explain why we would withdraw Ramsey's offer (assuming that is true, of course). Surely we can afford Ramsey if we can afford Mkhi.
One theory that explains both is that is Raul engineering a hard reset. After Gazidis left, Sven and Raul disagreed about the way forward. Without Gazidis to mediate, the board took Raul's side and promoted him and Vinai. So Sven and his approach of finding promising youngsters and building a team around them is out. That leaves Raul's wheeler-dealer approach. He's probably getting rid of Arsene's talismans like Ozil and Ramsey, and trying to make Arsenal an English Barca-lite, starting with Denis Suarez. Reasonably explains the madness, but it just sounds too conspiratorial even to me.
But that still doesn't explain why Emery is putting out terrible teams even without Ozil, and setting us up to play defensively against West Ham, Huddersfield and BATE fucking Barisov.
Of course, it's possible Unai has fully bought into the second one, and is already starting to build his own team around Torreira, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Leno, (maybe a few I'm missing), and doesn't give a fuck about anybody else and the results this season. It explains his "protagonists are on the field" meme. However, I'm not seeing any consistent identity develop, other than cut back FC. There have been flashes, like v. Tottenham, but it inexplicably goes away, and we're getting thrashed by relegation teams. Wtf?
Galaxy brain dictates that is because Unai has written off this season entirely once he saw the team. He's already picked Ozil and a couple others out as starters, and he's letting everyone else battle it out before next season or developing them. Would explain Ozil's happy social media posts, but I saw one recently that was passive aggressive, and any way he wouldn't have been offered on loan. Also way too n-d chess.
It's also possible that Ozil has a serious recurring injury. Unai likes to plan as much as possible for the games ahead, and since Ozil frequently drops out a day or two before games, he just began to plan for games without Ozil. Hence the complete freeze out while Ramsey still gets time. His contrast issue can still be due to the Raul thing. Sounds like a complete clusterfuck, and Unai being very petty, but this is Arsenal and we're all human.
Let me see... Did I get them all? Fucking hell, I was way too high for this.
Anyway, how Ozil is handled and who we buy in the summer will reveal the truth.