ROB DRAPER: Mesut Ozil left you wanting more but he remains one of the greatest players I have seen

How is it possible to regret what a player achieved in his career when he won the World Cup, La Liga, the Copa del Rey, three FA Cups, the German Cup, played for Real Madrid and Arsenal and was international in 92 times with your country? ?

Mesut Ozil announced his retirement from soccer on Wednesday with a resume and medal tally that any professional except Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would look back on with an overwhelming sense of “job well done.”

Now that Özil has retired, perhaps we can concede that it was, in fact, a ‘job well done’. If there was frustration during his career, it was only that he might have been closer to Messi and Ronaldo than perhaps even he realized. He was never there, although ‘not as good as Messi and Ronaldo’ is not a bad place to be. However, he was always a player who left you wanting a little more.

The worst online abuse I’ve ever suffered was after another Arsenal thrashed (again) by Bayern Munich with Arsene Wenger in a game in which Ozil hadn’t been able to prevail. You longed for him to win a great game like Kylian Mbappé did with France in the World Cup final, to be that player.

In retrospect, it was a mistake to mess with Ozil, because the team itself was weak at the time, and because he just didn’t have that kind of personality. What she did, she did sublimely and beautifully. Nobody could thread a pass like Ozil. His vision was extraordinary, his touch deft and soft yet decisive. But he was not a born leader.

Ozil’s game was beautiful with the midfielder possessing extraordinary vision and skillful touch.

The former German international overcame great barriers to play for Real Madrid and Arsenal

I only fully appreciated him when, on a rare opportunity to interview him (his introversion meant he rarely interacted with the media, which meant judgments of him were often harsher) and sat with him for the better part of a hour. We spoke German, a language he was much more relaxed and affable in, although it’s worth noting that it was still his second language.

And it made a world of difference, as if a barrier of incomprehension was collapsing. He explained how, as the grandson of the Turkish Gastarbeiter, he grew up in Bulmke Hullen, a Turkish mini-enclave in the German city of Gelsenkirchen.

He did not speak German until he was four years old. In the family’s fourth-floor apartment, she shared a room with his brother, Mutlu. As the older brother, Mutlu got the bed, and Mesut only a mattress, which was put away during the day. He talked about how they were afraid of the rats in the basement where they played.

He explained that when he went to trials in football clubs, it was Matthias instead of Mesut who received the call. “You would be the best and there would be a big difference between you and the next person,” he said. “You’d think they’d take it 100 percent, but then they’d say, ‘We’d rather have it. You have to wait a week.”

When you have experienced that three or four times, you notice it. I would say, “Dad, why?” He said: “Mesut, it’s not because of you, it’s because of your origin, because you are Turkish and because your name is Mesut.” ‘

Life is hard for many footballers, so his story is not unique. Messi overcame a growth deficiency and had to leave home at 14; Ronaldo had to leave Madeira when he was a child in order to prosper. But the suspicion that you are being demeaned simply because of your ethnicity is a huge hurdle to overcome that you imagine leaves a scar.

Ozil fought against it though, he proved those scouts wrong, even though he felt he had to train harder and perform better to win people over. You suspect she carried that sentiment throughout his career.

Ozil was Germany’s benchmark for creativity during their 2014 World Cup triumph

Chancellor Angel Merkel then praised Ozil when he became the poster boy for the national team.

A reckless photo with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan helped make Ozil the scapegoat

He ended up being the poster boy for the German national team, feted by Chancellor Angel Merkel when Germany won the 2014 World Cup, the only player of Turkish origin to start the match, and as such a representative of a very important branch of the german society. That team would never have made it without him. He was his benchmark for creativity and brilliance.

He had chosen Germany, his country of birth, despite the enormous pull of Turkey. He didn’t even have a German passport until he was selected for the teams in his age group. The victory in the World Cup was the zenith for him, the moment when he perhaps felt embraced by the nation and all of Germany celebrated it.

That would turn sour in the 2018 World Cup campaign fiasco, prior to which Ozil had recklessly posed with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, giving the Turkish president, accused of multiple human rights abuses, a major boost from public relations.

When Germany were knocked out in the opening round in Russia, Ozil was an easy scapegoat, his very commitment to being German questioned. Not that we in the UK can climb to the moral high ground, knowing full well how, following the exit of a major tournament, ethnic minority players are disproportionately attacked.

That coincided with his least productive years at Arsenal, when he had accepted his huge new contract and yet seemed incapable of delivering with Unai Emery or Mikel Arteta, who dumped him. In fact, although the 2020 FA Cup win is on his honors list, he had already been kicked out of the team by then.

And yet I think I know why Arsenal fans were so protective of him that they turned on me when I criticized him. In the lean years of Wenger’s second decade, Ozil was a throwback. You looked at him and remembered the best players from Wenger’s first decade, Dennis Bergkamp, ​​Thierry Henry. Like them, he could do things no one else could.

It is true that perhaps he had not just had his drive or commitment to a team. But perhaps the barriers he overcame were greater. And when Ozil was playing well, he was on par with Eden Hazard and Luis Suárez, the best in the Premier League.

Özil could not meet in his last years at Arsenal with the coaches Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta.

At best, Ozil was a throwback to the best players of Arsene Wenger’s first decade in charge.

Özil brought joy to the fans and three FA Cups to Arsenal after a decade without trophies

As such, it was a reminder of Arsenal’s better days, an icon to be guarded against outside criticism. He’s one of those rare ones, who can make your life feel special, and so when you suspect someone is trying to bring that player down, it feels like an assault on your very identity and meaning.

Now that he’s gone, I’ll look back on the many sublime moments and forget the no-compromise, no-drift performances. He probably didn’t score enough goals, unlike Messi and Ronaldo, which meant that when he didn’t always fall back, he was betrayed more than they did.

But it did bring joy to the teams and fans. Specifically, he brought three FA Cups to Arsenal, after ten years without trophies, the signing of him along with Santi Cazorla was the one that made Arsenal the most to become a cup-winning team again, complemented by Alexis Sánchez since 2014.

He will be missed because despite many frustrations, he is still one of the best players I have ever seen.