da doce： When Mesut Ozil first joined up with the Gunners for a sizeable £42million back in the summer of 2013, many expected the former Real Madrid play-maker to represent a massive coup for Arsene Wenger’s side for many years to come.
da fazobetai： And although the now 27-year-old midfielder partially struggled to establish himself in the Premier League during his early days at the Emirates, following seasons down in North London eventually proved far more profitable for the player in question, even if Arsenal arguably failed to improve all that much as a collective unit.
Yet despite the understandable sense of hype and sensation to surround Ozil in the Premier League over the past few seasons, the composed German international has seemingly frustrated certain sections of the Emirates faithful in equal measure of late. It seems that when Arsenal really need their most high profile players to step up and be counted, the £42 million man has often been criticised for shying away from taking responsibility for the Gunners.
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So in light of Arsenal’s sheer lack of dominance in the Premier League this season – does Mesut Ozil arguably represent one of the Premier League’s most over-rated players, or has the former Bernabeu favourite been somewhat unfairly targeted during his current spell at the Emirates?
Seeing as the 27-year-old has amounted an incredible 18 assists throughout the current campaign thus far – whilst also playing host to some of the best chance-creation statistics in the whole of European football this season – perhaps Mesut Ozil is in-fact more than worthy of his glistening reputation with all things fairly considered.
Via his unquestionable technical ability in the middle of the park, dangerous sense of vision inside the final third, and distinctly composed nature with the ball stuck firmly at his feet – this is a player who most Premier League sides would obviously love to call their own, and there is ultimately no getting away from that particular case in point.
Arsenal could still theoretically land the league title this season after all, and should such a dramatic turnaround in fortunes eventually take place at the Emirates, many would seemingly label Mesut Ozil as one of the standout performers of the entire league campaign.
Yet as the Gunners certainly seem to have taken their eye off the ball in this season’s increasingly unpredictable title race at the moment, perhaps there is more to Ozil’s overall game than certain sections of the Emirates faithful would lead the rest of us to believe.
The term ‘bottle-jobs’ has subsequently been pointed in the direction of Arsene Wenger’s side in recent weeks, and although Arsenal could easily find themselves operating in far worse circumstances right in the here and now, no other Gunners player is arguably more deserving of the phrase than Mesut Ozil himself.
The highly coveted German international put in nothing short of a ghost-like performance last time out at White Hart Lane – arguably Arsenal’s most significant fixture of the entire campaign thus far – and also looked completely short of his best against Swansea City not so long ago. Although he wasn’t the only Gunners player to fail to impress in those aforementioned fixtures, Arsenal fans seemingly couldn’t count upon the 27-year-old right when it mattered most – even if such an outcome remains somewhat inconvenient for all the genuine Ozil-fans out there.
West Ham United’s recently acquired Dimitri Payet has indeed been compared rather heavily with the German play-maker this season due to both players sharing a partially similar approach out on the field. Payet cost a fraction of Mesut Ozil’s original fee however, provides way more of a goal threat for his manager inside the final third, and seems to perform to the very best of his ability when the rest of his teammates desperately need someone to step in and show their quality.
That’s not to say that Dimitri Payet is categorically better than the current Arsenal star by any means of course, just that the former Real Madrid midfielder isn’t quite as untouchable as his glowing reputation often makes out.
Mesut Ozil remains one of the best players in the world for his clear prowess in the play-making department. But as he must also go down as a rather one dimensional player from an purely analytical point of view – especially when the going invariably gets tough down at the Emirates – perhaps he just isn’t the man to install that priceless title-winning mentality within the current Gunners squad after all.
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