Arsenal: Rejuvenated Mesut Ozil must prove it first

Mesut Ozil is apparently fit and rejuvenated. While I would love to believe that this is a new version of the Arsenal midfielder, he has to prove it first.

For almost all of the summer window, there has been an expectation that Arsenal will sell Mesut Ozil. The 30-year-old German endured his most apathetic and unproductive campaign last season, scoring just five goals and assisting twice in the Premier League, all the while being paid £350,000 per week. Something had to give.

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And Arsenal did try to sell him. The wages are egregious and they wanted them off the books. But such is the financial cost of pursuing an Ozil transfer, potential buyers were difficult to find. Now, with a little under three weeks of the transfer window remaining, it seems as though Ozil will remain with the team.

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Ozil made his first serious appearance of the pre-season against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. Playing in behind Alexandre Lacazette, the midfielder looked extremely sharp. His passing was ever-creative and controlling, he combined neatly with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to engineer openings, and looked extremely dangerous in initiating or finishing off counter-attacks. After the match, Ozil spoke about his rejuvenated feelling at the club:

"“I am really happy. I am fit. We showed, especially against Bayern Munich, that we look very fresh.”"

This sense of re-inspiration, greater fitness, and a new-found commitment for the season ahead was echoed by head coach Unai Emery this week also:

"“I spoke with him last week, at the beginning of pre-season, and wanted to get his best performance. The way to achieve that is with daily commitment. Really, he is working very well and I am very positive about his commitment. He has a high, high commitment today <…>  I am looking forward to seeing the best Mesut Ozil this season.”"

Sadly, this is not the first time that we have heard comments like these. Ozil is a PR master. A quick scroll down his social media is enough to prove that. He has 24.1 million followers on Twitter, almost 10 million more than Arsenal — I guess a player can be bigger than a club after all. He knows how to spew what the fans want to hear at the right time, just like the club that he plays for.

So when regarding his positivity and commitment, his higher levels of fitness and strengthened relationship with Emery, which was tested at times last season, I have difficulties believing it. I want to. I want to see a driven, focused, determined Ozil because a drived, focused, determined Ozil would be invaluable to Arsenal, but I am not going to accept his — or Emery’s, for that matter — his words at face value.

Ozil must prove that he has changed before I will believe that he is any different to what he has been throughout his career. He must track runners into midfield, something that he did not do against Bayern, incidentally, he must press hard like Aubameyang and Lacazette, he must submit to Emery and work under his system, and show desire and resilience away from home and in the big games.

The staple criticisms of Ozil will not be answered by talk. They must be dismissed on the pitch. And until he does that, I will be hesitant to believe anything I hear about a rejuvenated iteration.