Arsenal: Trophies Not Needed For Mesut Ozil’s Next Step

Arsenal has an incredibly talented footballer in Mesut Ozil, but does he need trophies to be considered world class, as some are suggesting?

It’s safe to say that a lot has been said about Arsenal‘s Mesut Ozil of late. Be it criticism for his performances or his languid style of play. Pundits, ex-players and analysts have had something to say about Ozil in the past few weeks. Most recently it was ex German footballer Lothar Matthaus who was talking about Ozil.

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Matthaus said that while he appreciated the mercurial talents of Mesut Ozil. He needed to add trophies to his game to considered as a world class player. At first glance such a statement seems obviously correct. But there is a case to be made against it. I don’t believe a player requires an array of trophies to be considered world class. Here is my argument to support this claim.

Football is a team sport. Therefore, the team will be judged on its successes. For the top tiered teams (like Arsenal), that is usually measured by trophies. Yet the judgement of players on an individual level has more to do with performances than trophies.

Mesut Ozil may not be collecting many trophies at Arsenal. But his performances have been impressive and of the highest calibre. Ozil has shown enough evidence with his assist statistics and overall technical quality to suggest he is a world class player.

If the quality of an individual footballer was measured by the trophies they have won. Many legends of the game would not be considered as world class. The best example of this can be seen with striker Alan Shearer.

Alan Shearer is Premier League legend. The all-time leading goal scorer in the English top division was one of the best marksman the world had ever seen. Shearer scored all kinds of goals. Headers, screamers, tap ins, solo goals…you name it. The former Blackburn and Newcastle man was the definition of a goal getting poacher.

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Yet Shearer collected only a solitary Premier League title (early in his career with Blackburn) to accompany his 260 league goals. To say Alan Shearer was not a world class player due to a lack of trophies is truly ignorant.

There are countless more examples of players with world class ability who never got their share of trophies that their individual quality deserved. Players like Le Tissier, Lineker and Gascoigne are the perfect illustration to stress this point.

So while Matthaus was right to encourage Ozil to win more trophies. To suggest that he can only be considered world class if he adds trophies to the cabinet is wholly fictitious and untrue.

Need I remind you that Pascal Cygan was a trophy winner for Arsenal. He was about as far away from world class as the likes of Santos and Denilson.

Ozil is a remarkable talent and one Arsenal is lucky have on their books. Critics and fans may slate him about his work rate but you won’t find many that can’t admit he is a world class operator.

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More trophies would be the icing on an impressive cake for Mesut. But even if his career ended without any further trophies. Ozil would still be considered an unbridled success of world class quality.