Stoke Police have followed up on what had been an assumed trolling of Arsenal’s Mesut Özil by asking, “Seriously though, has anyone seen him?”

The Potteries constabulary responded sassily to a Gunners fan reporting a robbery in the wake of his side’s 1-0 defeat at Stoke’s gambling-themed ground.

apologies for the delay in replying. We've been busy looking for a missing person, surname Ozil. Have you seen him? #Banter

— Stoke Police (@policingstoke) August 20, 2017

But the situation has now been upgraded from #banter to #urgent.

In a statement, Stoke Police said: “In all seriousness, has anyone seen Özil?

“The last person to see him was Darren Fletcher, but even he says he can’t be sure he wasn’t just tackling thin air.

“As hilarious missing persons reports go, this is actually quite a serious one.”