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Mesut Ozil will be Arsenal’s player of the season

By Andrew Dowdeswell

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Mesut Ozil is world class. Period. Along with Alexis Sanchez, Laurent Koscielny and Petr Cech he may well be the only other world class player in the squad.

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One of the greatest attacking midfielders over the past few years, Mesut Ozil’s vision, technique and sheer class have wowed fans, astonished managers, pundits and journalists, and brought a whole nation to tears (as an Englishman I’m still crying at Mesut Ozil breezing past Gareth Barry as if he was running treacle). He has now had two inconsistent seasons at Arsenal, but he is set for his best year yet in North London.

After being bought in 2008 as an 18 year old by Werder Bremen, Mesut Ozil began to show his attacking prowess. He eventually left for Real Madrid in the summer of 2010, but during this period he played 108 games for Werder Bremen. In this time, he scored only 16 goals, but recorded an unbelievable 55 assists. That is an incredible record for any player, but for a teenager playing regularly for the first time in his career, Ozil’s record portrayed all of his creative talents.

Over a five year period from 2009-2014, Ozil created more goals than any other player in Europe. Not only did Ozil show great promise as a teenager, but he has been consistently world class for years, and although he has suffered heavy criticism during his two seasons at Arsenal, the Turkish-born German international will show again why he is one the greatest attacking midfielders in world football.

Mesut Ozil has shown in flashes why Arsene Wenger decided to splash £42.5 million and break the Arsenal transfer record to acquire his services. His first assist for the Gunners against Sunderland was an exquisite piece of play. He brought the ball down beautifully, quickly shifting the ball square to where Olivier Giroud simply had to slot home. This was a wonderful example of Ozil’s quality, but it has been seen far too rarely in an Arsenal shirt.


Whether this be Arsene Wenger’s fault for playing Mesut Ozil anywhere and everywhere but behind the striker – what was he thinking? –  Ozil’s fault for simply not delivering or the time it takes to understand the unique British game and culture, the German maestro has not performed to the standard expected of him.

Having said all of this, Arsenal’s greatest vein of form in the last few years, that being the back half of last season, also coincided with Mesut Ozil playing some quite frankly outstanding football. He was the best player bar Eden Hazard in the premier league for two or three months last season.

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Ozil was able to create a whopping 70 chances in 22 games in the Premier League – a production rate of 3.2 chances a game. Eden Hazard, for comparison sake, produced 99 chances in 38 games, which works out as 2.6 chances per game.

Mesut Ozil is a creative genius, as is evidenced by the number of assists throughout his career, and by the number of chances he creates while at the Emirates. He may have only recorded five assists last year, but when creating over three chances a game, is it really his fault for such a low level of assists?

While not performing to the high level expected of him, Mesut Ozil has performed better than many give him credit for. However, it is in this coming season that he will play his best football. His strongest performances came towards the end of last season, he is now the central creating force for one of the greatest attacks in the league and he is beginning to orchestrate a fluent and dangerous strike force.

Ozil’s form culminated against Crystal Palace last Sunday. In a game where Arsenal were far from their best, Ozil was quietly outstanding. He completed 54 of his 55 passes (something that still blows my mind when I think about it now), and recorded his first assist of the season through a lovely cross to Giroud. Playing in his correct position, with quality players around him, this season will be the year when Mesut Ozil shines back to his brightest. He may even win Arsenal’s player of the year award in the process.

Next: 5 Reasons to be excited about Welbeck's return

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