Wednesday 4 September 2013

Arsenal Sign Mesut Ozil

It's hard to find the words to describe how I feel about Arsenal smashing their transfer record to sign Mesut Ozil. I was shocked, stunned, amazed, delighted, thrilled and of course over the moon at the news. 

There are only a few really special players in world football and Ozil is right up there with them in my opinion. Under Arsene Wenger Arsenal have always had special players until last season when the last of them left for whatever reasons he claimed to be valid at the time. I sincerely doubted the club's intention or ability to attract a player who would genuinely excite the footballing world, but they have proved me wrong.

All summer long Arsene Wenger spoke of how it was difficult to sign the top top players he wanted who would improve his team and it looked like none would arrive. I wished for Gonzalo Higuain but the club decided the fee was too high and set their sights on Luis Suarez. They put in a bid which they thought would trigger a release clause for him but the information they were given was proven wrong.

When Liverpool turned down their offer I couldn't see Arsenal upping the ante and the deal fell through in the end. Other names had been mentioned during the summer but nothing really came of any of them. Something was going to have to change if Arsenal were to land a superstar of the game.

Somebody mentioned on Twitter (I'm not sure who) that it was in fact Arsenal who set the ball in motion when they sold Gervinho to Roma. His signing enabled Roma to sell Erik Lamela to Spurs and they eventually agreed to offload Gareth Bale to Madrid for a world record transfer fee. With Madrid spending so much money they felt the need to recuperate some of it and Arsenal came in with a €50 million bid for Ozil.

When I heard Arsenal were interested in Ozil I wasn't sure if it was true and I didn't dare to imagine they could actually get him. The rumours grew though and as deadline day progressed it was obvious Arsenal were going to get their man. It took until 30 minutes before the widow closed for the announcement, but it was a done deal a while before that.

It's still hard to believe at this stage and it won't seem real until I see him in an Arsenal shirt. Hopefully that will come in the trip to Sunderland on Saturday week when Arsenal next play. The players have to get through an international break before that happens and that's always a worrying time.

In my opinion Arsenal now have the best player in the Premier League  and his signing is exactly what the club needed. He's the marquee signing that was promised and hoped for and his arrival will hopefully open the door for others to arrive. No matter how good Ozil is he cannot win the league on his own and the club will have to bring in more players to help to showcase his talent.

The squad is still a little thin in defence and attack and it's worrying that Arsenal couldn't add to either of those departments during the transfer window. They have plenty of injuries at the moment and none of those injured players will be returning for the trip to Sunderland. There's an awful lot of pressure on Olivier Giroud to deliver and an injury to him could cause some serious consequences for the team. 

The options Arsenal have in midfield are magnificent though and Arsene Wenger is going to have a hard job picking a team when he has them all fit. Both Ozil and Santi Cazorla are absolute certainties for me with one of them probably playing in a wide role in the big games. There will be plenty of chances for rotation too with Mikael Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Mathieu Flamini all more than capable of performing at the highest level.

I'll be looking to get Ozil straight into my fantasy team as players who make and score goals like him are few and far between. League champions Manchester United don't have a midfield playmaker, Chelsea's new boss is keeping theirs on the bench and City's David Silva is good but he's no Ozil. By the end of the season I would be surprised if Ozil isn't the highest scoring midfielder in the fantasy game. 

The purchase of Ozil might have put a hole in Arseal's transfer kitty, but there's still plenty for them to spend in January if needed. If they can keep themselves in the title hunt until then I hope they will add to the squad and who knows what might happen. Between now and then the team will have to cope with the limited numbers they have available to them which means there will be plenty of youth and inexperience on the bench until the injured players return at least. 

It's been a great few days for Arsenal fans with the victory over Spurs on Sunday followed by the arrival of Ozil on Monday. I can't talk about Arsenal without smiling at the moment and everybody wants to talk about Arsenal and of course the signing of Ozil. His arrival won't solve all of their problems overnight but it will certainly make them a better team.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. The http://serwisbukmacherski.com/ no one focuses on the success of Real Madrid this season. They lost a great player, and spent a fortune on one of the great unknown - I do not understand this.

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  2. I'm very happy they have sold Ozil to Arsenal but Bale is a very good player as long as he can fit into their team.

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  3. Ozil has arrived an is setting his sights on helping bring in trophies. Would you read my article - www.thedailyderin.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete