The transfer window of 2013 was one that was special for many Arsenal fans. After years of selling off some of the club’s best talent, the fan base was surprised with the signing of a world-class player, Mesut Ozil. Fans were in disbelief that the club had actually pulled off such a big signing.
Ozil, a silky smooth midfielder from Real Madrid, was at the top of his game when he came to London and the German hit the ground running immediately. He was later joined by Alexis Sanchez and the two formed a formidable partnership. After a couple of seasons, they both were in the final years of their contract and Sanchez decided to leave and seek a new challenge.
This decision made the club fearful of losing both of their superstars in the same year so that prompted them to give Ozil a whopping 350k-per-week contract, something that would prove to be a mistake down the line. Almost instantly the midfielder’s performance started to drop off. He no longer played with the same heart and desire.
Ozil eventually developed a reputation for being a soft player and opposing sides knew that all they had to do was get stuck into him and he would back down. His body language was also another negative attribute that became a talking point amongst fans as his languid style did not go over so well.
Arsenal were known to be soft in Wenger’s later years and Ozil was the player that fans saw as one of the main players who fit that description. After the French boss left, Unai Emery was appointed and his style of high energy play and pressing did not suit the playing style of Ozil and he quickly fell out of favor with the Spaniard. Emery knew Ozil had great talent, but he had questions about the midfielder’s fitness and commitment to a playing style that required a total team effort.
The midfielder’s contract then became a big problem as he was no longer a guaranteed starter in the side and was considered to be a flop in the big games where the club needed him most. This was most evident when Arsenal lost the 2019 Europa League Final to Chelsea 4-1. He had a poor game and decided not to hustle off the pitch when he was substituted late in the match. This was pretty much the end for him under Emery.
Eventually, Emery was sacked and Mikel Arteta was appointed the new manager. Arteta gave Ozil a clean slate as he started the German in the first ten games of his Premier League tenure. He played decent in some of those games but nowhere near good enough to justify the high wages he was on. This is also at a period where the German started to become a distraction off the pitch as well.
It started with him speaking out on China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslims which put a political strain on the club. This was then followed by Ozil refusing to take a pay cut along with the majority of his teammates during the Covid 19 pandemic. This saw him being dropped from the team for good. He then had a number of tweets that seemingly undermined the club’s Hierarchy.
One example was when he tweeted an offer to pay the wage of the Gunner’s furloughed mascot Gunnersaurus after the club took cost-cutting measures during the Pandemic. His situation with the club never changed and he was offloaded to Turkish Club Fenerbahce with a condition that the Emirates club will pay 90% of his salary for the first six months.
They made the payment on June 30th which has finally freed Arsenal from paying his eye-watering salary which has been a financial burden on the club for years. What makes it worse is that Ozil never came close to living up to such a high wage. There is an argument that the club could’ve surrounded him with better talent but overall it was the player whose levels dropped and became a much bigger problem than what he was worth. With him and his big wages now officially in the past, Arsenal can move on from the problem that became Mesut Ozil and invest 350k-per-week into the strengthening of the squad.
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