Mesut Özil is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal. Born in Gelsenkirchen, he began his senior club career playing for hometown club Schalke 04, before signing with Werder Bremen in 2008, aged 19. After winning the DFB-Pokal in his first season, his individual performances led to a move to Real Madrid in 2010. There, he helped the club win a La Liga title, and ranked first in league assists for three straight seasons. In 2013, he signed for Arsenal in a transfer worth £42. 5 million, making him the most expensive German player of all time. A German international, he holds the record for the most
About Mesut Özil in brief
Mesut Özil is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal. Born in Gelsenkirchen, he began his senior club career playing for hometown club Schalke 04, before signing with Werder Bremen in 2008, aged 19. After winning the DFB-Pokal in his first season, his individual performances led to a move to Real Madrid in 2010. There, he helped the club win a La Liga title, and ranked first in league assists for three straight seasons. In 2013, he signed for Arsenal in a transfer worth £42. 5 million, making him the most expensive German player of all time. A German international, he holds the record for the most German Player of the Year awards, with 5. He was the top assist provider at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012, where he helped Germany twice reach the semi-final. He helped Germany win the 2014 World Cup, but retired from international competition in 2018, alleging discrimination and disrespect by the German Football Association and the German media. He has also been deployed as a wide midfielder in his career, and has played in the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Champions League. He is the son of Turkish footballer Yevgeni Özal. He played at youth level for various clubs, before a five-year stint for Rot-Weiss Essen. In 2005, he moved to the youth system of Sch alke 04 and wore 17 as his squad number, after starting as a playmaker and central attacking midfielder in the place of the suspended Lincoln in DFL-Ligapokal matches against Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
He eventually fell out with club management and moved on to Werder. In the 2009–10 season, he became the key playmaker of WerderBremen, stepping into the shoes of Brazilian Diego Diego who had left Juventus. On May 1, 2010, he played his 100th Bundesliga game, scoring in a 1–0 win against his former club. He also excelled in Europe, leading Werder to the final of the last ever 1–1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine. On 31 January 2008, Özils moved to WerDer Breman for a reported fee of €5 million, signing a contract with the German club until 30 June 2011. On 26 April 2008, he scored the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute against Karlsruher SC, to put his team up 2–1. This was Özill’s first Bundesliga goal. Although Bremens failed to get going in their 2008–09 Bundesliga season, eventually finishing a disappointing tenth, ÖZil managed to make a significant impact in most games and came away with three goals and 15 assists that highlighted his attacking credentials. In May 2010, he played in 12 games throughout the second half of the season, six times playing in the starting formation, becoming second in the Bundesliga at the end of the 2007–08 season. He helped lead the North German club to the 2009 Bundesliga final, with the goal in a 2–0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Berlin.
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