Mesut Ozil was a former professional footballer who played for Schalke, Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Fenerbahce, Basaksehir, and made 92 appearances for the German national team.
After impressive individual performances, Ozil moved to Real Madrid in 2010 for €15million. He made 105 appearances in all competitions for Los Blancos and played a huge part in the club winning the 2011/12 La Liga title.
In September 2013, he moved to Arsenal for a club-record fee believed to be around £42.5million. In his first season at the club, Arsenal ended their nine-year trophy drought with an FA Cup win and Ozil became the fastest player to reach 50 assists in Premier League history.
After falling out of favour at Arsenal, Ozil joined Turkish side Fenerbahce on a free transfer in January 2021. He made just 38 appearances in a season-and-a-half at the Yellow Canaries before his contract was terminated by mutual consent. He then joined fellow Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir on a one-year deal.
Ozil made 92 appearances for Germany and featured in five major tournaments. He was the leading assist maker in the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, where his country reached the semi-final on both occasions.
Ozil struck up a deadly partnership with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo while they were at Madrid. Ozil assisted Ronaldo 31 times, with Ronaldo returning the favour on seven occasions.
The pair unlocked numerous defences together and Ozil has said that the frontman helped him become a better player. Madrid's decision to sell Ozil to Arsenal angered fans and players, including Ronaldo.
"The sale of Ozil is very bad news for me," Ronaldo told the Independent. "He was the player who best knew my moves in front of goal. I'm angry about Ozil leaving."
In September 2013, Ozil signed for Arsenal on a five-year contract for a club-record transfer fee of £42.5million. The deal made him the most expensive German soccer player at the time.
Ozil was keen to work with Arsene Wenger and said that he was a big reason why he moved to the north London club. When Wenger left the club in 2018, Ozil told Sky Sports: "He's the main reason I came here, he convinced me and I am proud to have played under him. He is an honest guy, a very respectful guy, has a good personality, and everybody wants to play under him."
In his second season, a knee injury kept Ozil out of action for three months. However, he scored and provided two assists as Arsenal eased past Aston Villa to secure back-to-back FA Cup titles.
The following year, Ozil won Arsenal's Goal of the Season award thanks to a brilliant solo goal against Ludogorets in a 3-2 victory.
I will just leave this here bro 😁@MesutOzil1088 pic.twitter.com/hLXnlk0HWk
— Mohamed ELNeny (@ElNennY) January 24, 2021
Ozil signed a new three-year deal in early 2018, making him the highest-paid player in the club's history. But his form dipped and he was left out of the Arsenal squad for several matches after his relationship with manager Unai Emery deterioated.
Despite the arrival of new manager Mikel Arteta, Ozil was omitted from the 25-man squad for the 2020/21 Premier League season, leaving him eligible only to play in Arsenal's U-23 squad.
Even though Ozil was left out of the squad, he still offered to pay the full salary of Jerry Quy, who is Gunnersaurus, the club mascot. Gunnersaurus was one of 55 redundancies Arsenal made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unable to break back into the Arsenal first-team squad, Ozil joined Fenerbahce in January 2021.
İlk idman günleri başlıyor✅ güzel şeyler bizi bekliyor inşaallah 💛💙|| First days @Fenerbahce ✅ so excited about everything that is just in front of me💛💙 pic.twitter.com/1HFnhKcgxO
— Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) January 28, 2021
Heading into the 2014 World Cup, Ozil was Germany's top goalscorer with eight goals in the qualifying campaign. He started in all seven of his country's games at the World Cup, scoring in the 2-1 round-of-16 victory against Algeria.
Despite only managing one goal and one assist throughout the tournament, Ozil concluded the competition with the most successful passes in the final third (171) and was joint-second behind Lionel Messi for chances created (17).
On beating Argentina in the final, Germany became the first European team to win the World Cup in South America.
Germany's Mesut Ozil with the 2014 World Cup
Ozil was the joint-highest assist maker with three at Euro 2012 and was included in the UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament. His standout performance came against Greece in the quarter-final. Providing two assists and making nine key passes, Ozil put in a man-of-the-match performance to help Germany cruise to a 4-2 victory.
The 2016 Euros saw him play every minute of Germany's six games. Ozil registered one assist against Ukraine in his side's opening game and scored against Italy in the quarter-final.
Although he has won the German Player of the Year award five times, Ozil decided to retire from the national side in May 2018. This was due to what he felt was mistreatment from the German Football Association (DFB) after Ozil posed for a picture with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoayan. Former DFB president Reinhard Grinde wanted him to apologise for the photo op after it caused a storm in the German Press.
His father, Mustafa, was a metal worker before Ozil made it as a professional. Reports suggested Ozil's father filed a civil case against him in 2014 because he removed Mustafa as the director of his marketing company.
According to Forbes, Ozil's net worth is $28.7million. He is ranked 49th on Forbes' list of The World's-Highest Paid Athletes in 2020.
In 2018, Ozil founded esports team M10 eSports.
Talented playmaker Mesut Ozil has retired from the beautiful game at the age of 34, after showcasing his skills at the likes of Arsenal and Real Madrid.
The 2014 World Cup saw Joachim Low's side reign victorious and bring back the most prestigious trophy in world football for the first time in 24 years.
The latest transfer developments on social media as Man Utd’s pursuit of Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong starts to look a little desperate, while Arsenal seems a long time ago for Mesut Ozil.
Arsenal appoint Jack Wilshere as the Gunners' under-18s head coach, while Mesut Ozil is reportedly released from his contract with Fenerbahce.
Mesut Ozil was recently removed from Fenerbahce's first team squad, and his agent believes a drastic career change could be on the horizon.
A former Arsenal star has pipped England to win the 2022 World Cup, while an unlikely Chelsea speedster has topped the speed charts this season.
Arsenal posted post-tax losses of £107.3million in their latest financial statement – the biggest in the club’s history.
