Mesut Ozil is arguably the biggest enigma we have had at The Arsenal – He is Brilliant, Magical, Inspiring, Frustrating, Lazy, World Class and opinion dividing all in one – I don’t think I have ever seen a player that has split the opinion of a fan base more than Mesut Ozil.
213 assists in 579 career club appearances, 65 goal involvements in 92 aps for Germany. He has been the top provider in Germany, Spain, England, a World Cup, Euros and the Champions League – that tells you all you need to know about his strengths. On his day he is arguably the best number 10 world football, the most creative footballer in the planet. This has been back up by Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Joachim Low who made him integral parts of their team.
Many of Mesuts current and ex-team mates and say he is the best player they have played with technically; BUT the question that has always been asked about Mesut “Does he want it enough?” “Does he really care?” “Does he work hard enough?”
I guess as Arsenal fans a lot of people would say no to those 3 questions. Yet Ozil was an integral part of ending Arsenals 9 year trophy drought – he went on to win 3 FA Cups with Arsenal in 4 years.
Ozil joined Arsenal in 2013 following a promise he gave Arsene Wenger prior to joining Real Madrid 3 years earlier.
On the 31st January 2018 Mesut signed a new 3 year contract with Arsenal for £350,000 per week – this was the same time we lost Alexis Sanchez.
Sanchez was unbelievable for Arsenal at the time and was a huge blow to lose him to Manchester United. Mesut could have easily followed suit, but he didn’t he signed a new deal to stay at the club that he felt was his home – he has always paid a huge respect to the Arsenal fans that have always stuck by him.
When Unai Emery joined Arsenal he made Mesut Ozil one of his 5 captains but at the same time challenged Mesut by insisting he had to improve his work rate.
Ozil was reminded that he was no different to any other player in the squad and if he didn’t do what was asked of him he would not play.
That is fair enough – you have to adapt and as an Arsenal fan for over 30 years all I have ever wanted to see is a player give 100% for the shirt – especially if you are earning £350k a week!
Mesut managed 5 goals and 2 assists in 24 games in the Premier League in the 2018-19 season is this enough to justify his huge new contract? By far the biggest contract we have given to a player.
Some fans argued that we should have got rid of Mesut and given that kind of contract to Aaron Ramsey and kept him – I could see the logic in that.
Rambo is an Arsenal man with over 10 years under his belt for the club.
When struggling for game time under Unai Emery, when he did play you could see what he offered – 110% work rate and was hugely influential in getting us to the Europa League final which he missed due to injury!
Mesut I feel has always been a player that needs to feel completely free and have 100% confidence in him to really perform.
He clearly doesn’t have that under Unai Emery.
This season be has played only 1 game in the Premier League and has been left out of the last 3 match day squads. You can see that something is not right.
Rumours that he doesn’t fully apply himself training; that he has a tendency to call in sick on a regular basis circulate.
Is Unai making an example of Mesut? He famously had a similar power struggle at PSG with Neymar which clearly was won by Neymar; but is history repeating itself with Mesut? Unai Emery seems very reluctant to give Mesut the chance to redeem himself.
Why would you sign Mesut? To create goal scoring opportunities for his teammates and chip in with goals – that’s his strengths and that’s what he has been better than anyone else at for over a decade.
You certainly don’t sign someone like Mesut to track back and tackle. But is this where football has changed? Defending starts from the front and no matter who you are; you work hard, you press. Liverpool the perfect example of defending from the front.
Body language has never been Ozil’s best friend. Even when he is covering more distance than any other player, putting a shift in, he still looks lethargic.
Ozil has perhaps found himself as the victim of Arsenal’s defensive frailties.
The side is so shaky at the back with not enough cover from midfield, Emery has had to sacrifice the playmaker who can coast defensively to bring in someone harder working like Dani Ceballos.
But Ozil is still the best playmaker at the club and with Pepe, Lacazette and Aubameyang up top; if given the chance I struggle to see how we wouldn’t be more prolific. Perhaps the best form of defence is attack?
He was recently again voted in as one of the 5 captains but more importantly this was voted for by the players – does this tell us something we don’t know?
After a rare recent interview with The Athletic; Mesut has reaffirmed his love for the club:
“I have a contract until the summer of 2021 and I will be staying until then. When I signed the new deal, I thought about it very carefully and said it was one of the most important decisions of my footballing career.
I didn’t want to stay for just one or two more years, I wanted to commit my future to Arsenal and the club wanted me to do the same. You can go through difficult times, like this, but that is no reason to run away and I’m not going to. I’m here until at least 2021.
I said that Arsene Wenger was a big factor in me joining Arsenal — and he was — but ultimately I signed for the club. Even when Arsene announced he was leaving, I wanted to stay because I love playing for Arsenal and that’s why I’ve been here for six years.
I’m proud to be an Arsenal player, a fan and I’m happy here. Whenever people see me in the street I always say, ‘This is my home’. I’m going nowhere.”
Ozil has always done the PR stuff well. It is why he is a huge brand in his own right.
In his interview he said all the right things. It then actions speak louder than words.
Mesut Ozil clearly loves London – he clearly feels at home and when he is on it he is one of the most enjoyable players to watch playing this beautiful game – but where does he go from here? He is 31 now and his contract runs out in the summer of 2021.
It is difficult to see both Mesut Ozil and Unai Emery still being at the club come the summer of 2021 – but will either of them be here? If so who do you think?
One thing is for sure –Mesut Ozil at his best he has been an absolute joy to watch in the famous red and white and for me I won’t forget his best bits!
“We’ve got Ozil, Messsssssut Ozil” “I just don’t think you understand” But is he Unai’s man?
Kind regards,
Paul
