Arsenal Vs Watford: Mesut Ozil is a luxury worth paying for

As Mesut Ozil returns to the Arsenal fray ahead of their weekend trip to Watford, questions have surfaced regarding his influence and his quality. The general criticism that is levelled against him is that he is a luxury player. With that, I agree. But with one caveat: Ozil is a luxury worth paying for.

The curious case of Mesut Ozil. And it is a curious case. Signed in 2013, the hope, the expectation, the intention, was the ushering in of a new era, a resurgence of a dormant Arsenal. That, no matter the thinking on quiet, almost invisible work of Ozil, is indisputable. He has not lived up to expectations.

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And there have been many reasons for his issues, and his team’s issues. A failing to deal with the physicality of English football. A soft-of-centre that does not cope when the pressure is hot and the temperature is cold. A limpness when it comes to the big games, sneaking into the shadows, not standing forth in the limelight.

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Perhaps, though, the biggest critique of Ozil has been brandished in truly English, agricultural style: He is a luxury player. He is lazy, even if his general running stats may suggest otherwise. He lacks industry and effort and grit and desire and work-rate and resilience. And that is a criticism that I do not disagree with. But it is thought that those things are necessary to drive success that lacks connection. Ozil is a luxury, but he is a luxury worth buying.

While Ozil may not be the incessant tracker of runs, the head-down, drive-your-legs try-hard, the more-heart-than-head midfielder who runs himself into the ground, much to the adulation of the fans, pie in hand, praise in mouth, he offers a unique and irreplaceable skill set that elevates his value and his influence above the average footballer.

Unfortunately for Ozil, and Arsenal, he has not yet been put in a position for his luxuriousness to shine. He has been tarnished and chipped, dimmed and dented, with poor management, a unsupportive support network, a collection of players that flitter in and out of form, like some would suggest Ozil himself does.

You see, Ozil is not the instigator, the driver, the leader, the apostle. He does not have the abilities to play such a role. He is, instead, a facilitator and an encourager, a supporter. He is the catalyst, not the substance itself. But at Arsenal, that substance has never been provided. Bar Alexis Sanchez, this is a squad of thoroughly average players, waiting for Ozil to magic something up as he scampers, aimlessly, down the left wing, only to dispossessed as his legs tire, exasperated at the lonely furrow he ploughs.

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Ozil is a luxury player. The team must be contorted and twisted to fit him in, tailored to his every need, the seat designed to the exact inch so that he sits in perfect comfort. But when done so, when the team fits Ozil, Ozil brings it to life. It is sad that that will not be seen, at Arsenal, at least. But that is Wenger’s blame to shoulder, not Ozil’s.