Like many fans of the game, I am a bit of a sucker for a controversial figure. A player/manager/pundit or whatever you want to call it that splits opinions always keeps things interesting. I mean, as long as they haven’t done anything heinous or criminal, it’s all in the name of good entertainment, right?
Which brings us to today’s subject: Mesut Özil. Football is full of polarizing players, but over the past few years, few have been as polarizing both on and off the pitch as the German.
Whether he’s being slandered for being lazy in the transition or for his political opinions, none can deny how insanely influential the man can be with the ball in play or how outrageously charitable he is when it’s not.
You don’t become a 5-time German player of the year award winner, nor get universally dubbed the assist king for nothing, after all.
Seriously. I was feeling a bit off the other day, and the guy even helped me find the motivation to make this video. Legend.
Today, we’re going to dive into the curious case of Mesut Özil. The rise, the quote unquote fall and controversies along the way. With that being said, what happened to Mesut Özil?
Table of Contents
The next big thing
Born in 1988 in West Germany, by the time Özil had picked up the sport, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would shine in the years to come. Working his way through several youth teams, he eventually found himself at Schalke in 2005 and turned pro a year later, at 18 years old.
If I were to ask you to describe German football in general, what words come to mind? Efficient? Systemic? Relentless? Hard working? All common descriptors. There are of course more. But these are amongst those that we frequently associate with the immense force that is Die Manschaft.
However, one that you’ve probably heard less frequently is “flair”. Which makes sense. Flicks and tricks very rarely coincide with efficiency. However, when you’re talking about Özil, this is not the case.
With the ball at feet, the man possessed a soft touch, finesse and most significantly, out of this world vision. Which is probably only partially an exaggeration as he could probably thread the needle on the moon.
Having said that, his defensive work rates and physicality were being called into question from a fairly young age. But all signs were pointing towards incremental improvements.
In any case, perhaps there was a reason for his mix of abilities. He is a man of more than one nation, after all. Part German, part Turkish.
In the words of the man himself,
“My technique and feeling for the ball is the Turkish side to my game. The discipline, attitude, and always-give-your-all is the German part.”
A neat little detail, but remember it for later on, because It’ll definitely come up again in this story.
Werder Bremen and an introduction to the world
Back to Schalke, and the man was doing well enough to attract the attention of quite a few suiters. And when a dispute over an increase in wages in his new contract caused a rift in his relationship with Schalke, he was essentially free to leave.
€5 million later and Werder Bremen were up next as of January 2008, where he continued his meteoric rise. Over the next two and a half years, he managed to take on the role as the main playmaker for Bremen, scoring 16 goals and making 54 assists in 108 games across all competitions. Add on a DFB Pokal and a UEFA Cup runner up medal and the assist king was making big headlines.
And even though averaging an assist every other game at 21 in a major European league was eye opening to many, his performances in the 2010 World Cup is what truly introduced him to the world.
Anything other than 1st place is a disappointment for Germany when it comes to international competitions. And despite getting to the semi-finals of this world Cup, it was no exception. But, as far as Özil was concerned, this quote unquote failure of a tournament was a massive personal success.
3 assists (the joint highest in that tournament) and 1 goal in 7 games.
And just like that, the flood gates had opened. Everyone and their dog was after this man’s signature.
Wayne Rooney apparently even begged Sir A lex Ferguson to scoop him up. Barcelona, Arsenal, all the big guns were in the race.
But, as is usually the case, when a certain club comes knocking, it’s pretty much a wrap for all the other interested parties.
“When the offer comes in to join Real Madrid, there is no decision to make. Let’s be honest – you don’t refuse this club. I was in no rush to leave Werder Bremen, but this is one club you say yes to.”
15 million euros later and he was a member of Mourinho’s Madrid.
Los Blancos: Household name
An interesting tid bit is that he was brought in to replace Kaka. A former Ballon D’or winner and absolute baller. However, Kaka’s knees were essentially slowly turning into Jelly at this point, so Özil got his chance to shine pretty early on.
And, in line with how things had gone for him up this point, he was an instant hit. So much so, that in his first two starts at the Bernabeau in the league, he left the pitch to standing ovations.
By the end of his first year at the Bernabeau, he put to bed any notion that he would struggle in the big leagues as he ended his first season at Madrid with 18 assists in the league. More than anyone else, bar Messi. But this was only the beginning.
I say this, because he managed to achieve this feat two more times over the next two years. Most assists in La Liga back-to-back-to-back. The Assist king was nothing to play around with.
Add a starring role in Madrid’s league win in La Liga De Los Records to the mix, and it’s no surprise that he went on to win his first German player of the year award in 2011. An award that he would go onto win another 4 times in the next 5 years.
Life in Madrid was going swimmingly for our guy at that point. So much so that he even said:
“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 many years.”
Man, I hate reading quotes like this knowing things absolutely do not work out that way.
He said this in 2012 and literally one year after that, the man’s bags were already being packed. He had a good 2012/13 season; the record needs to show that.
Like I previously noted- most assists in La Liga again.
But unfortunately, the powers that be and Özil himself were at a bit of a crossroads by the end of the year. Luka Modric had been brought in, offering competition. another player adept at the number 10 role.
Özil publicly stated that this was not an issue and he would continue to fight for his place,
However, as the season went on he began to feel as though the higher ups at the Bernabeau did not believe in him as much as he felt they should.
And if rumours of Madrid’s pursuit of Gareth Bale, the world’s new phenomenon, proved to be true, someone in that Madrid attack would need to be sacrificed. Unfortunaately for Özil, he was deemed the weakest link.
For this reason, and more that we unfortunately are unlikely to ever be privy to, he decided that his time in Madrid was up.
Arsenal was the way forward.
Gooners and World Cups.
Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as very man fans were not happy about this move. Not one bit.
And he had every right to be. He also reflected the emotions of much of the footballing world. Anger on the behalf of Real Madrid fans. Confusion, on the part of everyone else.
The following is more or less what was going through the head of the casual fan at this point-
“Madrid are getting rid of the best playmaker in Europe? That’s an L. why’ve they done that?”
“Arsenal are breaking their transfer record? I thought they were pinching pennies. This is a strange news day.”
The entire situation was a confusing affair. However, in the end, the operation actually worked out well for just about everyone involved.
Madrid won La Decima a year later and Özil became an instant hit at the Emirates, helping them win their first piece of major silverware since they last won the same trophy back in 2005. The FA Cup.
And in the years that followed, he only continued with his uh, helpful demeanour. He helped the gunners to a further two FA Cups. By 2018, he had become the fast player to reach 50 assists in the Premier League, doing it in 141 games. He mesmerized the world with his crazy bounce kick technique thingy. He scored an absolute belter in Europe. Dude was going nuts and Arsenal were in love.
In the middle of all of this, he went off to the Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. We all know how that one turned out. Again, my man shone bright. Although, rather disturbingly, he was not only on the pitch during a literal homicide. He even took part in it. Shocking.
For the 4th time, Germany were world Champions. And Özil was a standout.
Fast forward a couple years and taking things back to the Emirates, things were going so well that in January 2018, Arsenal made Özil the highest paid player in their history. Reportedly £350k per week running up to 2021.
To put that into perspective, before singing this deal, alongside Alexis Sanchez, Özil was already the highest paid player at the club. And he was earning £140k then.
And I know what you’re thinking. Finally, my guy was earning a liveable wage. I was thinking the same.
The Fall of Mesut Özil
Özil vs Germany
In any case, despite everything noted in this article thus far, 2018 marked the year where everything basically began to fall apart.
First things first, 2018 was a world cup year. The time of year where a players patriotism and national allegiance comes under a microscope. In mid-2018, mere weeks before the WC, Özil, alongside Ilkay Gundogan (both with Turkish ancestry) were pictured posing with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and handing him signed shirts.
Many felt this signified the German internationals support of Erdoğan, who is a highly controversial figure, to say the least. It goes without saying that many in Germany were not happy at this in the slightest and began to question where Özil’s allegiances lied.
When Germany crashed out of the World Cup at the group stages, despite Özil having a relatively decent world cup when playing, many were quick to use these images and what they signified as a means of critiquing Özil’s performances.
The backlash of it all was so bad that Özil quit the national team altogether shortly after the World Cup. Citing racism and disrespect from high ranking German football association members on a regular basis. Even stretching back to before the whole debacle came up.
And so, at 29 years old, he departed from Die Manshcaft.
Özil vs Arsenal
Back in England and things weren’t much better. He had been criticised for bad form in the past, but this time things were different. The extension of Özil’s contract was one of Wenger’s last dealings as manager, doing it mere months before his Arsenal departure.
Unai Emery came in next, and Özil was seemingly not in his plans as injuries and a drop in form did little to help the German.
As the 18/19 season progressed, his game time began to plumet and the two began to clash more and more. And I remember this quite well, because it seemed as though instances of their frustration with one another were being leaked almost every day at the time.
By this point, Özil’s departure from the club was slowly becoming a matter of when and not if.
Fast forward to midway through lockdown and things got even worse when he refused to take a voluntary pay cut during the pandemic to assist the club’s financials. It was even reported that, amidst the craziness, Arsenal were forced to make 55 members of their staff redundant.
So why was Mesut Özil not willing to take a small hit?
To quote the man himself, in an interview with the athletic, the reasoning for this decision was as follows:
“I would have been OK to take a bigger share and then a cut if required. But we were rushed into it without proper consultation. For anyone in this situation, you have a right to know everything, to understand why it is happening and where the money is going. But we didn’t get enough details, we just had to give a decision.”
Which, if true, does make sense. He was reportedly being asked to give up about £42k per week. While that is a pretty small sum when taking his full pay package into consideration, it’s still a very large amount of money. The least he deserved was a breakdown of where the funds would be diverted.
Now I’m only saying this because, when you factor in that Arsenal went on to spend roughly £78 million in transfers within about a month of this story coming out, and that Arsenal’s billionaire owner, Stan Kroenke, famously has not put an impressive amount of money into the club since buying it, perhaps his scepticism was justified.
Further to that, for anyone unaware, Özil is quite publicly one of the most charitable footballers out there, routinely donating very very large sums of his own money to those in need. For that reason, I find it hard to believe that he would outright refuse to take a pay-cut, had he been made aware that this would help in paying the salary of a member of staff, for example.
But again, this is all speculation on what’s been reported. We obviously can’t speak on what anyone’s true intentions were in this whole saga.
Özil vs China
Moving along, and I know I’m gonna sound like a broken record at this point, but things got even worse.
Something I haven’t mentioned is that, along with being of Turkish descent, Özil is a practising and devout Muslim.
Going back to the end of 2019, he condemned the treatment of Uyghur Muslims, who had been placed in camps in Xinjiang. An act which led to Arsenal games being blocked in China.
Adding onto that, he received little backing from Arsenal, as they publicly distanced themselves from Özil comments, stating that they will quote “always adhere to the principle of not involving themselves in politics”.
Following that, Arsenal along with every other EPL team rallied together in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. And even more recently, we’ve seen support for the struggles in Ukraine.
I’d like to note that all of these are causes that should absolutely be supported. In any case, by mid-2020 Özil felt hard done by and voiced his disappointment in not being supported by his club, given what I just noted.
At this point it’s worth saying once more that towards the backend of the 19/20 season, Özil had underperforming for a good year or two, was reportedly suffering from a back related injury and had gotten entangled in a few heated disagreements with Arteta. All of these factors undoubtedly contributed towards his absence from the squad.
However, come the beginning of the 2021/22 season, he wasn’t even registered in the squad list for any of Arsenal’s major competitions.
There are obviously several reasons for why all of this was happening, but many point towards his comments on China as the main catalyst. We can’t know the exact reason for sure. Again, all we can do is speculate.
And just in case, I haven’t stressed this enough- I’d like to again remind everyone that the highest paid player in Arsenal’s history at the time, was not even registered for the season. That’s how dire the situation got.
The way forward
Eventually, something had to be done, and a move to Fenerbahçe was the ultimate result. His contract with Arsenal was terminated, thus he joined the Turkish club as a free agent.
This was undoubtedly the best outcome for everyone involved. Arsenal got rid of a 350k player that wasn’t even given the opportunity to warm the bench, Özil got to finally play first team football again, and even further, for one of the clubs he reportedly supported as a child.
And Fenerbahçe got a fantastic player. Which is always nice.
And that is just about where we’ll end this one.
Mesut Özil’s journey over the past decade and a bit has undoubtedly been one of the most unique and one of the most controversial ones out there.
Praised one second, frozen out the next. Sometimes justified, sometimes not, depending on who you ask.
Despite this, controversies and all, he will always be remembered as the Asist King.
Sources
Fenerbahce
Schalke 04
Imago