Is Mesut Ozil a Serious Ballon D’Or Candidate for Arsenal?

Mesut Ozil has again restated his intention to win the Ballon d’Or en route to leading Arsenal to glory. The only thing standing in his way is to become more egotistical and selfish. While that by no means sounds fun, it would not spoil Mesut Ozil’s play, it would enhance it. He has often been guilty of thinking ‘pass only’ and never considering a shot.

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The biggest problem with Mesut Ozil winning the Ballon d’Or, therefore, is staring us right in the face. He does not score enough goals. Since the award began in 2010, it has gone to either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. What do those two have in common? They both score more goals than the average team.

Andres Iniesta is the closest midfielder to win it, as he placed second in the initial year of the award. Other than that, Messi and Ronaldo share the first and second place spots across the board.

For Mesut Ozil to win the Ballon d’Or at any point, so many things have to change. So many things that it may well be impossible. First of all, if he is not going to score goals, he is going to have to have much bigger impacts on the game. He is going to have to put up assist numbers that are out of this world and he is going to have to do it on a match-by-match basis. As long as Messi and Ronaldo are playing, they are going to be scoring and they are always going to have the upper hand.

Mesut Ozil is going to have to learn to score more goals as well. The most he has had in a season is 11. Goals are the easiest way to impact the game and get noticed as a candidate and without scoring goals, it is hard to be seen as the best player in the world of football.

Not only that, but Arsenal is going to have to do something. What do we notice about the top three finishers each year? They are from either Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. Arsenal has to rise to a similar level. As it stands, they cannot accomplish that. They are not a European powerhouse like those clubs. They are still struggling to be an English powerhouse.

If Mesut Ozil is Ballon d’Or worthy, he can be a crucial piece in lifting Arsenal to that level.

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There is one area that Mesut Ozil does have the upper hand though. He assists. He may not score goals, but he creates them. Ronaldo and Messi score goals but they will never create as many as Mesut Ozil. There are two ways to look at that. First of all, as we have covered, the Ballon d’Or has been reserved for goal-scorers. But on the other hand, creating chances makes those goals possible. If Ozil can get a really world class striker up front, he may start to shine like he did when he was at Real Madrid.

A lot of Ozil’s game goes unnoticed, however. His dummy passes and brilliant touches are not headline grabbers like spectacular goals.

Mesut Ozil and Arsenal have a ton of work to do if the German maestro is going to grab a Ballon d’Or. It won’t be happening any time soon, that is for sure. Mesut Ozil is a tremendous player and will be a key component if Arsenal reaches greatness, but a Ballon d’Or may have to be put on the backburner for another few years.

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