Analysis: Arsenal star to benefit from new arrivals.
After something of an underwhelming first season with Arsenal last term, Gunners fans can look forward to seeing a different Mesut Ozil this year.
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A club-record £42.4m signing from Real Madrid in a thrilling deadline day deal last year, Ozil was not exactly the archetypal blockbuster transfer; although a key player at his previous club, his brilliance was in allowing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and others around him to shine.
At Arsenal, Ozil was stepping into a very different setup, arriving as the first of what would prove to be several big-name additions by Arsene Wenger as he made a major change to his transfer policy. On his own, Ozil was never going to be the player to revolutionise the club. Although a superstar in his own right, he is not a Ronaldo or a Gareth Bale, a power player who can change games on his own with a burst of pace, a stunning long-range shot or any individual moment of quality.
The German international, now a World Cup winner with his country this summer, has built his career on bringing the best out of others, which is why the likes of Ronaldo and Karim Benzema loved playing with him. However, he needs runners like that ahead of him as well, and with Arsenal’s summer business this year, he finally has the team-mates to complement his playing style perfectly: Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck.
Although these players are clearly not in the Ronaldo category, they will give the Gunners’ attack something very different this season, with both the Chilean and the England international players who like to trouble defences with runs in behind, and who can create space for others with their superb movement.
While Olivier Giroud has his qualities in front of goal and with his link-up play, he is too much of a one-dimensional target-man kind of player to really provide Ozil with much to aim for. The Arsenal team last season was like a superbly accurate gun without bullets, but Sanchez and Welbeck can now provide that ammunition.
As well as that, the 25-year-old is now a year older and more experienced with life in English football. Having arrived late on last summer without a pre-season, it is impressive that he settled as well as he did, and he will surely start to feel more comfortable and authoratative in this team now – something Arsenal fans should be very excited about indeed.
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