Johnson is amazed by Unai Emery’s plans of leaving out Mesut Ozil for the match-day squad ahead of their Europa League game against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Despite Emery defending his decision for leaving out both Ozil and Sokratis from his squad as he insisted the duo need rest.
Johnson, who retired from the sport in the summer believes Unai Emery wants to get rid of the German midfielder.
"I definitely believe there is more to it. There are players that have played in pretty much every single game so if it's down to being rested then I'm sure you could see a totally different XI and I don't think that will be the case.
"Why he's not there, I can't put my finger on it. When players are rested, they can be rested on the bench. They can miss 80 minutes but they can travel with the squad, sit on the bench and still be part of the plans, there to support the lads, needed in the last 10 minutes.
"The fact he hasn't travelled at all tells me there has to be more to it than that.
"You don't normally leave big players at home. He'll probably be going into training with five young kids, no player wants to do that. It's frustrating to not travel for one and then frustrating to train on your own when your teammates have a game.
"Not many players would accept that. The reasons Ozil's retired from international football is because he's getting a lot of stick. He's become a top, top player and you can't get to the top and have the career he's had without getting stick off someone along the way.
"I'm a big fan of him as a player but I do question what goes on between his ears. I don't think they want him there, he's on too much money so he's hard to get out.
"He knows he's on too much money so it's hard to get out so the ball is kind of in his court."
