The crowd grew late into the night around the Emirates Stadium, the Sky Sports reporter and van, were mobbed by Arsenal fans as the news filtered in. In the fag hours of deadline day in September 2013, Arsenal shocked the footballing world as they announced the signing of Mesut Ozil. Signing a player of that stature and ability was met by disbelief by the Arsenal faithful and signalled a watershed moment for the club. After years of being crippled by the weight of the Emirates Stadium move, Arsenal could finally challenge again. It was believed to be the end of the Gervinho, Park Chu-Young and Andre Santos era and Arsenal could finally compete financially with the petrodollars of Chelsea and Man City. Mesut Ozil was arguably the first world-class player in their prime that Arsenal managed to sign for the best part of a decade. It was the first sign of real ambition from the American owners, as Arsenal smashed their transfer record fee to sign the German from Real Madrid, for 42.5 million pounds.
And in the opening few seasons, Ozil did not disappoint. Despite the English media bias against him due to his laid back nature, football purists would agree that Ozil was elite for the majority of the time he spent in North London. He graced the Premier League with his silky passing, subtle flicks and extraordinary vision. He racked up 19 PL assists in 2015/16 as Arsenal finished 2nd in the league and a further 18 goals and assists the season after. But seven years since that fateful night in September, Ozil is now a shadow of his former self. He has been frozen out by Arteta, presumably due to poor attitude in training and has failed to feature for the club in the restart. Arsenal will look to move the German on in this transfer window, despite him having a year left on his contract. Unfortunately, his 350,000 pound a week wages makes him almost impossible to sell, and he is set for another year on the sidelines where he could be spending more time on Twitch, than the football pitch.
The waning of Ozil’s powers mirrors Arsenals decline as a footballing powerhouse in England. In the pomp of Arsene Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal, they were known as a team that were modelled behind Guardiola’s Barcelona. Arsenal had a plethora of creative midfielders at their disposal and was even often criticized for wanting to pass the ball into the net. From Cesc Fabregas to Tomas Rosicky to Santi Cazorla, Arsenal was known for their diminutive creative midfielders with technical quality. However, in recent years there has been a mass exodus of those type of players at the club. In the last 3 years, Arsenal has lost Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, Sanchez, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. And finally, their last and perhaps greatest creator, Mesut Ozil, has been frozen out and is set to leave. The creative heart of the team has been ripped out and that is causing them grave problems on the pitch.
In the past season, Arsenal has struggled to create chances in games and have often relied on only the individual brilliance of Aubameyang to bail them out. A perfect snapshot of that issue was witnessed in Arsenals penultimate league game against Aston Villa where they failed to have a single shot on target versus a team who was happy to sit back and let them have the ball. In terms of numbers, Arsenal is one of the worst creative teams in the league. They ranked 15th amongst PL teams last season for Shot Creating Actions (16.18 Per 90) and 16th in the League for Key Passes (285). Arsenal is also 12th in the Premier League for big chances created and is the worst of the Big 6 Teams in terms of Expected Assists and progressive passes.
What is worse is the only Arsenal player in the top 50 players in the league last season for Shot Creating Actions is Mesut Ozil with 3.94 per 90. With the next best Arsenal player being Nicholas Pepe with 2.96 down in 51st place. It is no surprise that Arsenal is now being linked with the likes of Willian and Coutinho to help mitigate their creativity drought. Arsenal has players like Pepe and Aubameyang who can run in behind the defence but unfortunately, they do not have the creative linchpin who can find these runs with the eye of the needle passes.
So where does this leave Mesut Ozil? Is he just another victim of an evolving game where the number 10 is now nothing more than a luxury. Players like Coutinho and James Rodriguez have been forced out of clubs while the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Thomas Muller have been made to evolve. The emergence of a counter-pressing system and the popularity of the 4-3-3 has rendered Number 10’s redundant, and maybe Ozil was just too slow to pick up on the trends, and the game has left him behind. And maybe this Arsenal team has moved on from Ozil as well. Yes at times he may seem like the better option in games, but Arteta is building a footballing philosophy at the club. And he can’t carry any passengers who aren’t fully on board with his vision.
So after all the assist records, dainty flicks and trademark bounce shots, Ozil’s Arsenal and England career ends with this bad divorce. The 2 partners unwilling to speak to each other and make amends, and the requirement of a hefty settlement offer to end the marriage. Ozil will leave England as a villain, with the tales of his wizardry leaning towards the mythical. His legacy might be tarnished and he may be remembered as the 350k man who stole a living. But when he signed for Arsenal in 2013, he offered the hope of a new dawn. And as this misunderstood genius leaves North London, under a new manager and regime, Arsenal might be on the cusp of a new one.
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