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| Mesut Ozil |
It was the rats that most traumatised
Mesut Ozil. Almost everything else about his
childhood growing up in Bulmke Hullen, a mini Turkish enclave in the German city of Gelsenkirchen, seems to have been generally positive.
The
fourth-floor apartment his family lived in was small and he shared a
room with his brother, Mutlu. As the older brother, Mutlu got the bed
and Mesut just a mattress, which was stored away during the day. He
lived a parallel life to most Germans, speaking only Turkish until he
was four.
But despite the relative
poverty — his mother was a cleaner and his father a factory worker — it
seems he was happy with his lot. But not the rats in the cellar.
The
cellar to the apartment block had to be negotiated if you wanted to
fetch your bike. And that was not a job to be undertaken alone. The
children would only approach that task in groups.
‘It
was like that at the time,’ says Ozil. ‘I was pretty small. I was
always the youngest in our group, too. When you went into the cellar,
there wasn’t an on-off button for the light. You pressed the button and
30 seconds later the light would go off again.
‘You wouldn’t know where things were because it was so dark. Sometimes you’d hear the noises. When you see such a big rat in front of you, it would freak you out. I always went down with others; never on my own.’
He smiles at the memory, happy to recall his childhood, proud of what he has achieved. Rats pose no dangers now.
Ozil is something of an enigma, not just on the pitch. He rarely gives
interviews. He conducts this one in German, though his English is good.
Until now, a full picture of him has been hard to visualise.
Now
his autobiography is being published in England, it is possible to
piece together a portrait of the footballer who is supremely talented;
infuriatingly so at times.
In conversation he is reflective, forceful and measured. He knows that his life story has wider significance beyond football and the account of his childhood is one of emotional well-being amid material hardship.
‘For
us it wasn’t important to have a big house, a few cars, always have the
newest clothes,’ he says. ‘Solidarity as a family was important. We
were there for each other and always will be.
‘There were days you’d want to buy certain things or afford things and didn’t have the money, but what was most important was to spend time with each other, to grow up together.’
And
yet amid the benign memories, there are also more sinister overtones.
One chapter of the book recounts how several Bundesliga clubs turned him
down as a child, including, initially, his local team, Schalke, despite his ability.
Boys of lesser ability with Germanic roots seemed to be preferred; German boys with Turkish roots, less so.
‘The older you become, the more you understand it,’ he says. ‘As a kid, you’d go to have a trial at a big club.
‘You’d be the best and there’d be a big difference
between you and next person. You’d think they’ll 100 per cent take you
but then they’d say: “We’d rather have him. You have to wait a week”.
‘I’d
go somewhere else for a trial and have the same, where I was the best.
When you’ve experienced that three or four times, you notice it. I’d
say: “Dad, why?” He’d say: “Mesut, it’s not down to you, it’s down to
your background, because you’re Turkish and because you’re called
Mesut”. At that time, it was much more extreme. I don’t know what it’s
like today but at the time it was very difficult as a kid.’
You
can sense those experiences hurt. It was Ozil’s grandparents, miners
from Zonguldak, who answered the call from West Germany in the Sixties
when the nascent state needed fresh labour for the Ruhr coalfields.
His parents were born in Germany, as was
he. ‘When I look into the future and where I’d like to live, I’ll say
Germany because I grew up there and like the discipline the people
have,’ he says. ‘But my background is from Zonguldak in Turkey. I’m
there a lot.’
The barriers which he had
to overcome add context to his personality. The puzzle about Ozil is
that he is in one sense a genuine footballing superstar with an even
more compelling back story than, for example, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
He is a German phenomenon, the national team player of the year for five of the last six years. These are the world champions and he played his full role in winning that trophy in 2014.
He
is the man courted by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a role model for
integration in a modern Germany. On the flip side, he is the man
far-right politicians called ‘anti-patriotic’ when he posted pictures of himself at Mecca.
‘The
hype is big, regardless of what I do,’ he says. ‘As a Muslim, you have
to go there (Mecca), see it and experience it. It was a great experience
for me. I’d like to do it again. I wanted to post about it because lots
of fans had asked. I didn’t do it to provoke anyone. It’s what I
believe in and I stand by it.’
He has
become a totemic figure, so his contribution to the World Cup win was
cited as an example of how integration succeeds. Perhaps, naturally, he
balks at the role some would thrust on him.
‘When
you look at the team, you see lots of players from different countries.
Jerome Boateng has a Ghanaian background, Sami Khedira, from Tunisia,
then me, too. What’s most important is that we respect one another and
understand each other.’
He does acknowledge he is a global role model but with one important clarification. ‘Not just for Muslims,’ he says.
‘I’m
a role model as a footballer and not as a politician. I want to see
myself as a footballer. People respect me for my performances. That’s
why they support me and I’m very thankful for that. But I’m not a politician.
As
such, he transcends cultures. And his football ability is not in doubt,
nor his achievements. However, he is also aware, of the
counter-narrative he attracts: that he should rise to still greater
heights, perform better, win more.
It fits with Arsenal’s
own situation: the sum of the team being less than its parts. He
discusses the whole issue of not performing in the big games, the
criticism most frequently thrown at Ozil.
‘I
hear a lot, but I don’t give any worth to it,’ he says. ‘What the
manager says is what’s important to me. What experts say doesn’t
interest me and never will. I know what I can do. I’ve not been playing
at the top level for nothing. I’ve been successful.’
He is of course a World Cup winner, a winner of La Liga and La Copa del Rey with Real Madrid, the German Cup with Werder Bremen and the FA Cup twice with Arsenal.
And
no one could sensibly argue Ozil is bad or hasn’t achieved. The
argument is more that he isn’t Messi or Ronaldo. He is more creator than
scorer, of course, playing a deeper role. Assists are his thing.
‘The expectations are very high, as mine are for myself too. I have big expectations of myself,’ he says.
The point about Ozil is that he surely ought to be challenging to be FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
‘To do that, you have to win the Champions League, otherwise it’s very hard,’ he counters.
‘I
think every player wants to win that award but it’s not my goal. If it
happens in my career, that will be nice, but for me titles with clubs
are more important.’
Although his
personal trophy count is impressive, Arsenal’s isn’t of late.
Significantly, the two FA Cups they have won came after Ozil arrived.
But the Premier League title they surely should have won last season, once they had hauled Leicester back to within two points in February, now looks a distant proposition.
When they beat Leicester last year to bring them back to within touching distance, Arsenal then subsequently lost to Barcelona (twice), Manchester United, Swansea and Watford in a seven-match run.
When that flaw is put to Ozil, he seems to suggest the team ponder their setbacks too much.
‘Sometimes
things don’t work as well in games as they have in previous games. If
you lose, or you give a goal away or don’t make an assist, you can’t
think about it too much, can’t dwell on it.
‘We
need to realise as a team that if things don’t go for us, if we lose,
we need to not dwell on it and focus on the next game. Sometimes you
have the feeling when we lose, some players may lose self-confidence.’
Is it a collective mental problem with the team?
‘You’d have to ask the manager. When I look at the team, the players are ambitious enough and want to be successful.
‘But sometimes you can’t implement that in games where opposition
dominate and we think, “They are stronger than us”. Even when that is
the case, we need to battle until the last second. If you believe in
yourselves, you can achieve a lot.’
Quite
what they will achieve remains to be seen. Ozil believes it will be the
Premier League title. Yet, will he win it before he leaves the club?
‘I
have one more year on my contract. I hope so. I want to win the
Champions League and the title. I see this club as having the potential
to win these trophies.
‘You can’t think
we won’t win it in the future because we haven’t done so in the past.
We haven’t been consistent in the past. We’ve had great first halves of
the season and then not had the same in the second half of the season,
or the other way round.
‘As a team, we need to be more consistent over a season, show more ambition, more strength, more will.’
Then
there is Arsenal’s Champions League experience. For seven consecutive
years, the club have been eliminated in the last 16 of the tournament
but never more humiliatingly than the 10-2 aggregate defeat against Bayern Munich this season.
The
5-1 loss in the first leg at the Allianz Arena was a chastening return
to Germany for Ozil and he acknowledges his role in the failure.
‘Of
course my performance wasn’t top, neither was the team’s,’ he says. ‘In
the first game, our first half was good. But then in the second half we
collapsed.
‘For offensive players it’s hard when you don’t have much possession and can’t make your contributions.
‘After the first game, I didn’t have as much faith that we could turn it around. The defeat was bitter for me and the whole team.
‘When
every year you see the chance, think it’s really possible against big
teams and then have a big defeat, it affects me because I’ve always
wanted to achieve big goals and always will. I wanted to win the
Champions League.’
Yet amid his self-reflection, there is also a clear sense that the club themselves will need to do more.
‘I
think the club know they need to strengthen. But what’s most important
is the manager’s opinion. He and the club will make the decision.
‘When
you look at our squad, it’s not as broad as Bayern’s or Real Madrid’s.
In the Champions League, that’s not enough, especially against big
teams, because they have more breadth in their squad.’
Talks
on the new deal the club have offered Ozil will resume this summer. He
gives no definitive prediction on how those negotiations will go.
‘It makes me happy, that the fans support me, that my team-mates and the club support me.
‘But
football is my priority, we have aims with the team to reach the
Champions League. In the summer there’s enough time to talk about other
things.
‘I’m very happy. I have a connection with the club. I love London, it’s great to live here but I can’t say today what will happen in the future. In the summer we’ll definitely talk.’
Were Arsenal to remain fifth and he stayed, it would be the first time he had missed out on the Champions League since 2010.
‘I haven’t thought about that. The club comes first, not Mesut Ozil or anyone,’ he says.
‘The team have the aim to reach the Champions League and I’ll fight for that. In the summer we have enough time to talk about the future and we’ll do that.
Of course, Wenger’s own future is also in some doubt.
Ozil,
who first spoke to Wenger in 2010, before he joined Real Madrid, has
cited the Arsenal manager as the principal reason why he joined Arsenal.
Wenger staying, it seems, is a crucial factor.
‘It’s
not just important for me but for the whole club,’ he says. ‘It’s
important to know if he stays or if he goes. We need to think towards
next season.
‘He’s very important. In
my career I’ve always made decisions not just because of clubs but
managers, too. As a footballer, it’s important to have the manager’s
trust and believe they can develop you.
‘When
I went from Madrid to Arsenal, I came for him because I told him at the
time he’d be my first option. That was the case. We still have a super
understanding today.
‘I have his trust,
he’s a superb coach. He’s been successful for many years, he’s been
here for 20 years and has always manages to get Arsenal to reach the
Champions League, making Arsenal a big club. He deserves to be shown
respect.’
Indeed so. And yet this
Arsenal team will only have the respect commanded by Wenger’s previous
sides if they can match them in the Premier League or surpass them in
the Champions League. Ozil knows as much.
‘As
a player you’re never satisfied. As a player you want more — you want
to win the League. I’d like to win the Champions League too, because
it’s the biggest thing in club football.
‘This club is big, they have potential to achieve a lot and I hope that works better in the future.’
Therein
lies the conundrum. The club is indeed big and Ozil is an exquisite
player. Yet somehow that hasn’t been enough. His challenge now, aged 28,
is to lead this team into uncharted territory.
