Mesut Ozil Profile

Mesut Özil is a German footballer who plays for English club Arsenal and the German national team. He was born at Gelsenkirchen, West Germany on 15 October 1988.

Mesut Ӧzil is of the most gifted players in European football. He is the creator in chief in the Arsenal side.

Özil started his senior career at hometown club Schalke in the Bundesliga in 2006, transferred to Werder Bremen in 2008 and was signed by Real Madrid in August 2010 following his break-out performance at the FIFA World Cup with Germany. On transfer deadline day of summer 2013 he moved to Arsenal for a fee of £42.5 million, a record for the club and the highest fee ever paid for a German player.

Several Real Madrid players were dissatisfied with Özil leaving the club, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who said, “He was the player who best knew my moves in front of goal ... I'm angry about Özil leaving.” But Özil  said, he moved to Arsenal because he did not have the faith from the Madrid’s coach or the bosses.

After joined Arsenal, the German playmaker contributed 22 assists in his first two seasons. Özil was assigned the number 11 shirt and the centre-attacking midfield role by Arsenal.

He also took his overall goal tally into double figures last season, scoring five times, including a memorable direct free-kick in the 4-1 home win over Liverpool.

His superb eye for a pass is one of his main weapons, and he specialises in finding pockets of space to drift into and orchestrate the play from.

Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder. His style and ability for providing assists for his team-mates has been compared by former manager José Mourinho to that of Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane.

In 2010–11, Özil ranked first in assists in major European and domestic competitions with 25. In 2011–12, he ranked first in assists in La Liga with 17. Özil was the joint-highest assist provider at both the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012, registering three at each tournament.

Of Turkish descent, Mesut made his senior Germany debut in 2009, shortly after winning the UEFA Under-21 Championship, and since then has added the World Cup title in 2014 to his list of honours.

Twice named in the UEFA Team of the Year (2012 and 2013), Mesut was nominated for the Golden Ball award at the 2010 World Cup, and was included in the Team of the Tournament at the 2012 European Championship.

International Career 

Eligible to play for either Germany or Turkey, Özil chose to play for his country of birth. In September 2006, he was called up for the Germany under-17 team. He was a member of the German under-21 team from 2007. On 29 June 2009, Özil was selected the man of the match in a 4–0 win over England during the U-21 European Championship final.

He made his debut for the senior side during a friendly match against Norway on 11 February 2009. He scored his first goal for the senior team in his third appearance, another friendly, against South Africa on 5 September in Leverkusen at the BayArena.

Özil was selected for Germany's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, starting in all of the team's matches. He scored a left-footed half-volley from the edge of the penalty area against Ghana in the final group game. He made assist to some Germany’s goal, make FIFA announced that he was among the ten tournament players nominated for the Golden Ball.

Özil was one of the leading forces in Germany's qualification for UEFA Euro 2012, scoring five times during the campaign as Germany won all ten of its games to top their group. Özil also confirmed his reputation as a decisive passer, as he provided seven assists, more than any European international during Euro 2012 qualification. His performance at Euro 2012 earned him two Carlsberg Man of the Match Awards. He finished the tournament as the joint-highest assist provider (3) and was named in the UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament.

Özil ended the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign as Germany's top scorer with eight goals. Following an injury to Marco Reus in a warm-up game, Özil was moved from his customary number 10 role into the left-winger position for the majority of the tournament. He started all seven of Germany's 2014 FIFA World Cup games, and helped Germany make history by becoming the first European team to win the World Cup in South America. After the trophy was presented to the Germany team, UEFA President Michel Platini asked Özil for his match shirt as a souvenir, and Özil obliged.

Style of play

A quick, creative and technical player, Özil excels in an advanced playmaking role, as a winger on either flank, or as an attacking midfielder through the centre of the pitch. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he was also deployed in a new role which was later described as a false-10 or central winger, due to his tendency to drift from the centre into a wide position when in possession of the ball.

An elegant left-footed player, his main attributes are his vision, his control, movement, passing range, and accurate crossing ability, which allow him to create chances, and provide many assists for team-mates. Due to his creative ability and offensive prowess as a playmaker, Özil has been called "assist-king" in the media. As of January 2016, Özil has the best ratio of assists per game in the history of the Premier League. Germany under-21 manager Horst Hrubesch once said, "We in Germany are prone to rave about foreign players. We praise Wayne Rooney to the heavens, likewise Ronaldo or Messi. But we have our own Messi. Our Messi is Özil." In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier against Belgium, he scored a goal which has been described as a "work of art." Germany coach Joachim Löw hails Özil for his "genius moments" and his performance without the ball.

Former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso described Özil as "the kind of player you don't find these days," adding, "He understands the game, sees things, combines and thrives between the lines, unlocking teams." José Mourinho, who coached Özil for a time at Real Madrid said, "Özil is unique. There is no copy of him – not even a bad copy." Assistant coach of the Germany national football team Hans-Dieter Flick said, "We are proud to have him in our team. When he has the ball, you can feel the excitement and astonishment among the fans." Former Netherlands and Milan forward Ruud Gullit labelled Özil as a "technically perfect" player who has "total control of the ball" and a "great imagination." Former Germany teammate Phillip Lahm said of Özil "His vision is probably the best I have ever seen... He is a dream for strikers.", while Mario Gómez called Özil "probably the most brilliant footballer we have or ever had". Despite his reputation as an offensive playmaker, Özil has also drawn criticism at times for his lack of physicality and his low defensive work-rate off the ball.

His nicknames have included "der Rabe" (the Raven, or in Spanish, "El Cuervo") – playing on his smart and opportunistic style of play, and at Werder Bremen "der neue Diego" (the new Diego), in reference to Brazilian Diego, whose playmaker role he inherited, "German Messi" and "German Zidane." At Real Madrid, he was supposedly called "Nemo" – in reference to the clownfish Nemo from the Pixar movie Finding Nemo. His attacking midfield partnership in Germany internationals with young talent Mario Götze has earned the "magic duo" the nickname "Götzil," alluding to their similar playing positions, technique, abilities and style of play.

Personal life

Özil is a third-generation Turkish-German, who, in reference to his game, concludes, “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.”

Özil is a practising Muslim. He recites from the Quran before his matches. Talking to the Berlin-based daily Der Tagesspiegel, Özil said, "I always do that before I go out [on the pitch]. I pray and my teammates know that they cannot talk to me during this brief period." In May 2016, he performed Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca.

MESUT OZIL PROFILE:

Full name       : Mesut Özil

Place of birth : Gelsenkirchen, West Germany

Date of birth  : 15 October 1988

Height           :  1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)

Playing position: Attacking midfielder

Squad Number: 11

Previous Club(s): Schalke, Werder Bremen, Real Madrid

Youth career:

1995–1998:   Westfalia 04 Gelsenkirchen

1998–1999:   Teutonia Schalke-Nord

1999–2000:   Falke Gelsenkirchen

2000–2005:   Rot-Weiss Essen

2005–2006:   Schalke 04

Senior career:

Years               Team                Apps     (Goals)

2006–2008:   Schalke 04            30           (0)

2008–2010:   Werder Bremen   71          (13)

2010–2013:   Real Madrid        105         (19)

2013–       :  Arsenal                  95          (18)

National team:

2006–2007:   Germany U19      11         (4)

2007–2009:   Germany U21      16         (5)

2009- …..  :  Germany               83        (21)

SOURCE: Wikipedia.org & Arsenal.com