Mesut Özil

Mesut Özil born 15 October 1988 is a German footballer who plays for English club Arsenal and the German national team. Özil has been a youth national team member since 2006, and a member of the German national team since 2009. He gained international attention during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was nominated for the Golden Ball Award, which is awarded to the tournament's best player. Özil started his senior career at hometown club Schalke in the Bundesliga in 2006, transferred to Werder Bremen in 2008 and was signed by Real Madrid in August 2010 following his break-out performance at the FIFA World Cup with Germany. On transfer deadline day of summer 2013, he moved to Arsenal for a club-record fee of £42.5 million. The transfer makes him the most expensive German football player of all time.

Özil is acclaimed for his finesse and improvisation as an attacking midfielder. His style and ability for providing assists for his team-mates has been compared by former manager José Mourinho to that of Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane. In 2010-11, Özil ranked first in assists in major European and domestic competitions with 25. In 2011-12, he ranked first in assists in La Liga with 17. Özil was the joint-highest assist provider at both the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012, registering three at each tournament.

Style of play
A quick, creative and technical player, Özil excels in an advanced playmaking role, as a winger on either flank, or as an attacking midfielder through the centre of the pitch. A left-footed player, his main attributes are his vision, his control, and his passing range and accurate crossing ability, which allows him to create chances, and provide many assists for team-mates. As of 24 October 2015, Özil has the best ratio of assists per game in the history of the Premier League. Germany under-21 manager Horst Hrubesch once said, "We in Germany are prone to rave about foreign players. We praise Wayne Rooney to the heavens, likewise Ronaldo or Messi. But we have our own Messi. Our Messi is Özil." In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier against Belgium, he scored a goal which has been described as a "work of art." Germany coach Joachim Löw hails Özil for his "genius moments" and his performance without the ball.

Former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso described Özil as "the kind of player you don't find these days," adding, "He understands the game, sees things, combines and thrives between the lines, unlocking teams." José Mourinho, who coached Özil for a time at Real Madrid said, "Özil is unique. There is no copy of him – not even a bad copy." Mourinho also stated that, "He is the best number 10 in the world. Everyone loves him and sees a bit of Luís Figo and Zinedine Zidane in him. He will make history at Real Madrid." Assistant coach of the Germany national football team Hans-Dieter Flick said, "We are proud to have him in our team. When he has the ball, you can feel the excitement and astonishment among the fans." Former Netherlands and Milan forward Ruud Gullit labelled Özil as a "technically perfect" player who has "total control of the ball" and a "great imagination."
His nicknames have included "der Rabe" (the Raven, or in Spanish, "El Cuervo") – playing on his smart and opportunistic style of play, and at Werder Bremen “der neue Diego” (the new Diego), in reference to Brazilian Diego, whose playmaker role he inherited, "German Messi" and "German Zidane." At Real Madrid, he was supposedly called "Nemo" – in reference to the clownfish Nemo from the Pixar movie Finding Nemo. His attacking midfield partnership in Germany internationals with young talent Mario Götze has earned the "magic duo" the nickname "Götzil," alluding to their similar playing positions, technique, abilities and style of play.

Speaking in 2014, he was praised by fellow German teammate Phillip Lahm, who said Özil will be "devastating" for Arsenal next season. Lahm told Goal, "Anybody who has played with Mesut will tell you how intelligent he is as a player." He continued, "His vision is probably the best I have ever seen and that is why it is so important to have the right striker ahead of him. He is a dream for strikers and you saw that with Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema when he was at Madrid. If Arsenal can find the right striker who is fast and makes intelligent runs – then Mesut will be devastating next season."

Outside football
Personal life
Özil is a third-generation Turkish-German, who, in reference to his game, concludes, "My technique and feeling for the ball is the Turkish side to my game. The discipline, attitude and always-give-your-all is the German part." Although of Turkish descent, his entire life he has been committed to Germany. According to Özil's own words and the majority of sources, his ancestors are ethnic Turks from Devrek, Zonguldak in northwestern Turkey. However, there are sources that claim Özil's ancestors are ethnic Kurds.

Özil is a practising Muslim. He recites from the Quran before his matches. Talking to the Berlin-based daily Der Tagesspiegel, Özil said, "I always do that before I go out. I pray and my teammates know that they cannot talk to me during this brief period." He observes fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan, but he has admitted that: "Because of my job I cannot follow Ramadan properly. I do it only the few days I can, only when I have a free day. But other than that it's impossible, because you have to drink and eat a lot to stay at peak fitness."

In 2010, Özil received the Bambi award for being a prime example of successful integration within German society.

Özil started dating singer Mandy Capristo in 2013. The relationship ended in October 2014, following reports of Özil being involved with another woman. On 12 November 2015, Özil and Capristo appeared together at the Bambi awards ceremony in Berlin. An Instagram photo uploaded by Özil used the hashtag #OziStoIsBack, suggesting that the couple is back together.

Charity
As part of the BigShoe project, Özil donated his 2014 World Cup winnings, an estimated £240,000, to pay for 23 sick Brazilian children to have medical surgery as a "personal thank you for the hospitality of the people of Brazil."

Media and sponsorship
In 2013, Özil signed a sponsorship deal with German sportswear and equipment supplier Adidas. He has appeared in commercials for Adidas Predator boots with other star players such as Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale, Luis Suárez and Robin van Persie. In August 2015, Özil starred in the "Create Your Own Game" commercial for Adidas alongside Messi, Bale, Thomas Müller and James Rodríguez. The video of the advert was viewed over 38 million times in its first 14 days on YouTube. In 2013, Özil launched his own logo.

In March 2015, Özil was the seventh most popular athlete on Facebook, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, David Beckham, Neymar, Kaká and Ronaldinho, with 28 million Facebook fans, one place ahead of former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Michael Jordan.