Full Name: Mesut Özil
Nickname: Özil
Team: Arsenal FC
Position: CAM – RW – LW
Age: 24
Birth Date: 15/10/1988
Birth Place: Gelsenkirchen, West Germany
Height: 5 ft 11 in
Mesut Özil assists goals. That is what he is on the pitch to do. He cares more about how many his teammates score rather than his own goal scoring record. It is difficult to find someone with his level of his passing who creates so many chances on goal. Offensively, he’s almost perfect. The only knock on him is that he doesn’t score enough goals. You could put this down to his unselfishness and his reluctance to shoot and instead set others up for scoring opportunities. However, he has some trouble playing more than 60 minutes at his highest level and he frequently gets subbed off, so he could improve in terms of stamina, whether this is something Wenger can work on or his natural level of stamina is poor remains to be seen. Defensively, he works hard and tries to get in the way of opposition attacks but he lacks ability in terms of tackling. He is inexistent in the aerial game despite his height. That is why Özil is not adept in a deeper central midfielder position as he does not possess the necessary attributes for it.
Özil is a product of the FC Schalke 04 youth academy, where he made his debut during the 2006/07 season. He was a midfielder and wore 17 as his squad number, after starting as a playmaker and central attacking midfielder. Over the course of a year and a half, he made 5 assists in 30 Bundesliga appearances being described as ‘the next big thing’ before being picked up by Werder Bremen in 2008 and moved to the North German club for a reported fee of €4.3 million.
In his first season with Werder Bremen in 2008/09, Özil began to show his potential and became a first team regular in the Bundesliga. Although Bremen didn’t do much better and finished in 10th, Özil made a significant impact in most games in which he scored 3 goals and got 15 assists, before he stepped up another level in his second season in which Bremen finished third and Özil contributed with 9 goals and 17 assists in 31 league games.
After his time at Werder Bremen and his brilliant performances in the 2010 World Cup, Mesut Özil established himself as one of Europe’s top young talents. Top clubs like Barcelona, Arsenal and Manchester United were after him, but on 17 August 2010, the team announced they had reached an agreement with Real Madrid for the fee of €15 million. “When the offer came in to join Real Madrid, there is no decision to make. Let’s be honest – you don’t refuse this club.” said the German of Turkish origins. Bargain.
Mesut arrived and lit up La Liga with a series of outstanding creative performances that made fans, media and rival players praise him during his first season which he finished with 25 assists, the highest for any player in any major European competition that season. In his second season at Real Madrid, Özil began wearing the number 10 shirt, ensuring his place as the main playmaker of the Spanish club. In that same season, after a great number of brilliant displays (especially against Barcelona), Özil said in an interview with the German magazine Kicker: “I’d like to end my career at Real Madrid. I know what I’m capable of and I’m convinced I’ll stay at Real Madrid for many years. “
He managed to get 17 assists in that season and on 2 May 2012, he helped Real Madrid get their 32nd League title as he assisted Real Madrid’s first goal and scored the second goal against Athletic Bilbao, which Real Madrid won by 3-0. In the final game of the season against Mallorca, Özil scored two magnificent goals which made Real Madrid the first club in Spain to ever reach 100 points in a season. He was on the short-list of 2011-12 FIFA Golden Ball award and earned a nomination for UEFA Best Player in Europe Award.
Although Real Madrid did not win any silverware in the 2012/13 season, Özil finished with 20 assists and 10 goals, although not as effective as previous seasons at Madrid, still a very good return from the German. He also had a very successful season with the national team with 15 assists and 6 goals. This was the toughest season at Madrid for Özil as Mourinho singled him out a few times after bad performances, claiming that ‘he’s not giving me quality minutes’, and therefore was subbed off at half time and on 60 minutes on numerous occasions. Although he had a difficult last season with Los Blancos, he still made the most key passes (92) with an average of 4.02 every 90 minutes, than any other Real Madrid player. This came with fierce competition from new boy Luka Modric who was vying for a spot as the attacking playmaker in the team.
Özil is a fantastic signing for Arsenal, as they have signed one of the top playmakers in the world, picking up 72 assists in the last 5 seasons, more than anyone else in the top 5 leagues in Europe, which includes stars such as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Mata. Since the departure of Fabregas in the summer of 2011, Arsenal have somewhat lacked in the creativity department, and if Wenger deploys Mesut Özil in his favoured role of the number 10 position, then I feel that the void that Fabregas has left has been more than filled. With Cazorla and Özil working in tandem together as the creative force in the Arsenal team, the lack of ideas in tight matches should not be a problem any longer. With an ever improving and young Arsenal squad, Özil (24), will only improve the team and hopefully help bring an end to the trophy-less run the Arsenal faithful have had to endure.
