{"id":35851,"date":"2021-01-25T16:23:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T16:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?p=35851"},"modified":"2021-01-25T16:23:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T16:23:17","slug":"mesut-ozil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

His arrival was supposed to define an era but, instead, his exit did that. Mesut \u00d6zil has finally left the Arsenal building, through the back door and with absolutely no consequence for Mikel Arteta, his manager and one-time teammate. The former Germany international will not be missed at the Emirates Stadium, even if the messages of nostalgia and goodwill emerged as he flew to Istanbul to complete a move to Fenerbahce last week. For all the tweets and the mentions of being a \u201cGunner for life\u201d, the feeling is most likely mutual.<\/p>\n

The longest of goodbyes started six months after \u00d6zil signed a hotly-anticipated extension to his Arsenal contract in 2018, when Unai Emery replaced Arsene Wenger. It was Wenger who brought \u00d6zil to the club from Real Madrid five years earlier, for just shy of \u00a343million, a club record at the time. It could be argued that there were similarities between his exit, after 22 years in the role, and \u00d6zil\u2019s; both had outstayed their welcome to a degree, though with very different context.<\/p>\n

Wenger had courted \u00d6zil\u2019s services for a while before his signing; his philosophy was formed around technique, grace and guile, and he built teams and players in that mould. But there was something particularly significant about the Mesut \u00d6zil deal; it wasn\u2019t just the biggest in Arsenal\u2019s history, but it was by a distance the heftiest outlay from a man who preferred to buy cheaper, younger players and hone their skills.<\/p>\n

After a successful spell at Real Madrid \u2014 where he was rather ironically discarded in order to make room for Gareth Bale, star attraction of Arsenal\u2019s main rivals, Tottenham Hotspur \u2014 there was a sense that \u00d6zil would be the catalyst for an Arsenal team which never seemed to solve its problems quick enough. They were struggling to close a gap to the top which had developed over a near decade at that point, taking them out of the Premier League title equation. Comparisons were made with Dennis Bergkamp, who started Arsenal\u2019s transition from a conservative and structured outfit to an expansive, entertaining purveyor of art in 1995, a year prior to Wenger\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

It was always going to be difficult for \u00d6zil to emulate such a legendary figure at Arsenal, and not all of that was his fault. The club just wasn\u2019t in as strong a position. Wenger had masterminded early success by marrying his footballing philosophy with the existing strength of character and mentality at the club. After 2005, when Patrick Vieira departed for Juventus, the team\u2019s focus switched more towards the style, some would say at the expense of substance. Arsenal became known as a club who could win and play well if the conditions were right, but struggled under pressure because of a soft underbelly.<\/p>\n

While Mesut \u00d6zil was a better player than anyone in the team at the time, as he often showed in his performances, creativity wasn\u2019t the problem. Alexis Sanchez arrived a year later, and the pair dovetailed brilliantly until the January window when the Chilean departed for Manchester United and \u00d6zil signed that ill-advised contract worth more than \u00a3300,000-per-week. At the time, his decision to stay was heralded; Arsenal had managed to keep one of the two linchpins of their team but, in a sense, \u00d6zil and Sanchez exacerbated the imbalance within the squad. They were talented, but were unable to level the playing field against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, who had a much greater spread of quality throughout their teams.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Sanchez\u2019s exit contributed to the issues which soon became apparent, but the big turning point certainly appeared to be Wenger\u2019s exit. Emery was a manager with a less romantic view of football; he was pragmatic, and took that view with Mesut \u00d6zil in particular. His style of play \u2014 often slow, measured, thoughtful and technical \u2014 was often criticised for appearing lazy and therefore a contributing factor to the team\u2019s poor mentality. Where Wenger preferred to allow \u00d6zil to play to his strengths, Emery, who wanted to inject a more hard-nosed intensity into the team, called him out and subsequently left him in the cold. The Emery vision didn\u2019t work out, and it was assumed Arteta, who came from a school of thought much closer to Wenger\u2019s, would soon reinstate him. But he didn\u2019t; \u00d6zil wasn\u2019t even named in the 25-man Premier League squad<\/a> for this season.<\/p>\n

Intensity, high-energy and pressing are the hallmarks of Arteta\u2019s philosophy, thanks in no small part to Pep Guardiola\u2019s tutelage. In his final public comments on \u00d6zil before his departure, Arteta said he \u201cwanted to take the team in a different direction\u201d. During the three years since he opted to stay at the club, when interest in was still fairly high, \u00d6zil has drifted into obscurity ever so gradually, with some supporters unforgiving of him because his game was perceived to be passive and not deserving of the wage packet he was picking up.<\/p>\n

There is little doubt that \u00d6zil\u2019s exit is a blessing for everyone involved. Arsenal can draw a line under a difficult end to a complex relationship, while the now 31-year-old can enjoy his final years at his boyhood club, rebuilding his image. Lessons should be learnt, though. Mesut \u00d6zil, or any other player of that ilk, should be treated with care and foresight. His talent should have outweighed the issues surrounding his work-rate but rarely did in the end. He was billed as the man to usher in a new era, but in the end, he simply embodied what has become known as the \u2018modern Arsenal\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

You could earn up to \u00a3100 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus from our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His arrival was supposed to define an era but, instead, his exit did that. Mesut \u00d6zil has finally left the Arsenal building, through the back door and with absolutely no consequence for Mikel Arteta, his manager and one-time teammate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[272,76],"class_list":["post-35851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-featurehome","tag-premier-league"],"yoast_head":"\nArsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga - Colossus Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mesut \u00d6zil has finally departed Arsenal. What started off as a match made in heaven, soon turned into a nightmare for all parties involved.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mesut \u00d6zil has finally departed Arsenal. What started off as a match made in heaven, soon turned into a nightmare for all parties involved.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-25T16:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GettyImages-1152240439-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry De Cosemo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry De Cosemo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry De Cosemo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb\"},\"headline\":\"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-25T16:23:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":983,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"FeatureHome\",\"Premier League\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga - Colossus Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-25T16:23:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mesut \u00d6zil has finally departed Arsenal. What started off as a match made in heaven, soon turned into a nightmare for all parties involved.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/mesut-ozil\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"description\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Colossus Bets\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Colossus Bets\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SportsBigger\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ColossusBets\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/colossusbets_\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/colossus-bets\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ColossusBets\\\/featured\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb\",\"name\":\"Harry De Cosemo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Harry De Cosemo\"},\"description\":\"A freelance European football journalist who has worked for a variety of outlets including the Press Association, MARCA in English, FourFourTwo and SportsKeeda\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/harrydecosemo\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/harrydecosemo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga - Colossus Blog","description":"Mesut \u00d6zil has finally departed Arsenal. What started off as a match made in heaven, soon turned into a nightmare for all parties involved.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga","og_description":"Mesut \u00d6zil has finally departed Arsenal. What started off as a match made in heaven, soon turned into a nightmare for all parties involved.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/","og_site_name":"Colossus Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","article_published_time":"2021-01-25T16:23:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GettyImages-1152240439-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Harry De Cosemo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo","twitter_site":"@ColossusBets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry De Cosemo","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry De Cosemo","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb"},"headline":"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga","datePublished":"2021-01-25T16:23:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/"},"wordCount":983,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["FeatureHome","Premier League"],"articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/","name":"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga - Colossus Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-01-25T16:23:17+00:00","description":"Mesut \u00d6zil has finally departed Arsenal. What started off as a match made in heaven, soon turned into a nightmare for all parties involved.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/mesut-ozil\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arsenal draw a line under expensive Mesut \u00d6zil saga"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","name":"Colossus Blog","description":"Colossus Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Colossus Bets","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Colossus Bets"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ColossusBets","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/colossusbets_\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/colossus-bets\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ColossusBets\/featured"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb","name":"Harry De Cosemo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Harry De Cosemo"},"description":"A freelance European football journalist who has worked for a variety of outlets including the Press Association, MARCA in English, FourFourTwo and SportsKeeda","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo"],"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/author\/harrydecosemo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35857,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35851\/revisions\/35857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}