He was the signing of the summer.
On transfer deadline day 2013, Arsenal finally broke the bank for a big money signing, German playmaker Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid, for a club record £42.5million.
However, it is fair to say that Ozil hasn’t set the Premier League alight in his debut season, despite a bright start, struggling with the ferocity of English football.
Wenger hopes to welcome Ozil back into the starting XI on Sunday away at Hull after 5 weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, and insists that next season, Arsenal fans will see the German live up to his price tag.
“He is a fantastic football player,” Wenger said of Özil, the man he paid £42.5 million for last summer and of whom he remains fiercely supportive. “I would put him on the list to be player of the season next season.”
“He is a quick player, and agile, he can get out of tight situations. Players can open up to do something interesting in behind, so when he is not there, you get out of the situation and lose the ball.”
“He has gone through a difficult spell,” admitted Wenger, “because physically he was not as present as you would expect him to be. He had no real preparation and had a period where he was tired because he was not used to playing [right] through the season.
“He felt the difference between Spain and here. Sometimes he was rested there because in Spain, when you are 2-0 up –when Real Madrid are 2-0 up – what strikes him is that the teams give up. They know they will lose the game.
“Mesut said what is the most difficult for him here is that 2-0 up, the teams fight like mad to come back. And that was the main difference – you have to fight until the last second of the game.”
By Ben Kelly
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