Arsenal: Well, something changed Mesut Ozil, if not the armband

Arsenal have been consistently handing the captains’ armband to Mesut Ozil, but he insists it hasn’t changed him. So then what has? Because something has.

Arsenal‘s captaincy situation this year is a bit wonky, as they have five different captains, one of whom has been hurt all year, one of whom has been replaced, and one of whom is leaving at the end of the year.

Then there is Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka, with Ozil winning out with the two of them on the pitch and wearing the armband for the club. Since becoming captain, Ozil has

I don’t often put a lot of credence in what players say. I know that most are media trained, and say the thing that is least likely to draw attention to anything out of the ordinary. Especially Mesut Ozil, who I’m pretty sure said all of nothing for all of four years at the club. His lack of communication was a constant source of frustration.

Ozil has been speaking out more and more since he signed his new contract. He has actually been transparent with his feelings and his most recent admission is that he has “always been a leader” and, the portion that I would like to focus, that the captain’s armband didn’t change him.

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I think I’m okay with Ozil believing that he hasn’t changed because of the armband, but when you get down to it, something did change him. What that something is doesn’t necessarily matter, but at the end of the day, I have seen Ozil do things that I never thought I’d see him do.

Consider the match against Liverpool. After being benched against Crystal Palace, Ozil stepped out from the shadow and worked his arse off. It didn’t pan out in any particularly great way, but Ozil tried for 90 straight minutes to get back to his best possible self and even though he didn’t get there, he didn’t give up.

The same happened against Wolverhampton. He was actually dropping deeper into the midfield to get more involved with the play. Did it work? Absolutely not. But Ozil was taking charge of the situation and trying new things that were far outside of his comfort zone.

This is not the same Ozil that’s been at the club for years. This is not that Ozil. This is someone else entirely. If it wasn’t the armband, than I’d love to know what it is.