Mesut Ozil is Arsenal’s most expensive signing of all time. Joining for £42million in 2013, Ozil’s arrival at the Emirates was greeted with a huge amount of optimism. Since he arrived he has been brilliant and with a new contract reportedly on the horizon, I wanted to take a look at 10 interesting facts about the German.
1 - Mesut Özil donated his World Cup winning wages (£355,000) to ‘support the surgery’ of 23 Brazilian children following Germany’s victory in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina.
2 - Did you know that Mesut Özil is a devout Muslim who prays before every game? You can see him praying in the centre circle prior to kick off every time.
3 - Mesut Özil is actually Turkish born and is a 3rd generation German, he turned down the offer from Turkey to play for the national team in 2009 in favour of Germany.
4 - 2013 wasn’t the first time Arsene Wenger tried taking Özil to the Emirates, in 2010 following his amazing World Cup Wenger’ nearly got him before Real Madrid snatched him.
5 - Mesut Özil has many nicknames, He was nicknamed ‘The Raven’ at Schalke for his vision and ‘Nemo’ for his appearance resembling the Disney cartoon character at Madrid.’
6 - Mesut Özil can rap, in 2010 he paired up with Jan Daley to create a song for an advertising campaign, it’s safe to say he is a better footballer than a rapper.
7 - Did you know Mesut Özil is Lactose intolerant? The playmaker described the condition as “so unfair” as he is a self-confessed ice cream addict.
8 - Özil has never scored a penalty for Arsenal despite taking two in the past which were both in the UEFA Champions League (Marseille, Bayern Munich).
9 - Mesut Özil’s role model is Zinedine Zidane, it must feel pretty crazy to him when the Arsenal fans sing his song they made up for him which includes them saying “He’s better than Zidane.”
10 - Mesut Özil is very intelligent, he is fluent in four languages which include German, English from his time at Arsenal, Turkish and Spanish which he learned from his time at Real Madrid.
