Arsenal: Mesut Ozil and the ongoing desire to improve

Arsenal certainly have a lot of things sitting snug and ready, but Mesut Ozil’s situation is an odd one. He seems intent on changing that though.

Arsenal are ready for the season to start against Manchester City. I think we can all agree on that. They are fit and firing and everything is in place and ship-shape. Ideally there won’t be any sales to potentially spoil things, but right now we don’t know.

In the meantime, training continues. The intense training that we are so happy to see, with players busting their arses to get in the best shape they have ever been in.

From the off, I wondered how that kind of training would suit Mesut Ozil. Because, again, for as talented and wonderful as Ozil is, he isn’t exactly brimming with undying effort, the likes of which Unai Emery tries to instill in all his players.

Ozil was supposed to have an elongated break given the World Cup, but he came back early, according to recent reports. Which is endearing enough, given the questions being asked of his role at the club.

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Not only did he return early, though, it is being said that he returned early because he heard from his teammates that the training sessions were so intense and wanted to be a part of it.

One can presumably draw the parallel that he therefore wishes to test himself against the physical task of an Emery training session, as well as be there with his teammates as they grow into this new era of Arsenal Football Club.

I find that pretty damn awesome. Especially seeing as how I’ve been doing so much question-asking regarding his future at the club and if he’s even a viable option in the current set-up.

Maybe he’s asking himself those questions too. Maybe the weight of a poor World Cup campaign and the hint of uncertainty at the Emirates was enough to kick him into a new gear – a gear that we didn’t know he could strive for.

It’s no secret that some players, when they get to a certain age, stop trying to improve. Either they feel they don’t need to or they feel that it’s too late anyway.

Next: Arsenal's End Of Season Player Rankings

It is fantastic, literally fantastic, to know that Ozil is not among those players. He wants to improve. He still does.

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