EXTRACTS FROM MESUT OZIL’S GUNNING FOR GREATNESS
...and sledged by the ref, too! My welcome to English football was as brutal as it was shocking but I have learned to take it now
IN his new autobiography, Gunning For Greatness: My Life, Arsenal and Germany superstar Mesut Ozil reveals how unprepared he was for English football, a tense dressing-room showdown with Jose Mourinho... and the reason he left Real Madrid for the Emirates Stadium
THE Premier League is the toughest challenge I’ve experienced in football. If you can’t take it here, without whining, then you’re history. It’s something I had to get to grips with in the first few weeks and months after my switch from Real Madrid.
Whereas in Spain the entire game is based on elegant ball play — even teams from lower leagues try the same — in England you have scratching, biting and fighting. In England, football is one tackle after another. There’s barely any respite.
Generally this doesn’t happen in Spain because the ball is constantly on the move. Pass, pass, pass. The opponent rarely has the opportunity to intervene because the ball is already on the other side of the pitch.
In England you fail to notice how hard it is during the game itself and how many attacks the body sustains. You’re so full of adrenalin that you don’t feel the pain. But then, under the shower, you discover the ‘misery’. After some matches my shins have looked as if someone has gone at them with a hammer, covered in blue marks.
I’ve had scratches on the neck and bruises on my back, shoulders and chest from opponents’ elbows welcoming me into the Premier League when the referee wasn’t watching.
Some opponents also gave me a right earful on the pitch soon after my move from Spain. I’d never heard anything like it before. Nowhere is there as much chit-chat as in England. There are some players who are permanently rabbiting on. And of course it’s not exactly friendly stuff.
For example, after I’d been brutally brought to the ground in one of my first encounters, the opponent hissed, ‘It’s not Real Madrid. We’re not in La Liga.’ And as my new best friend turned away he muttered: ‘Come on, get up boy,’ with a malicious grin.
In an attempt to fight back I’d go running to the ref to begin with and try to ‘work’ him. Every player does it. We all try to influence the referee verbally, to raise his awareness if we’re worried about getting hurt.
We complain so that the next time he’ll watch more carefully and spot if we’re kicked or elbowed. I do this just like Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben or Lionel Messi — all players who get kicked a lot because opponents are trying to disrupt their rhythm and because sometimes it’s the only way to stop them. But, to my great surprise, I was forced to realise that even the English referees have their very own form of communication. In my early days at Arsenal they dismissed my appeals in a way that made me think I’d misheard them. They’d say things such as ‘Don’t whinge. You’ve got to deal with it. Welcome to the Premier League.’
Sledging from the opposition. Cutting comments from refs. And football that’s harder than anywhere else — that’s the Premier League. That’s English football. And that’s the football I’ve got used to and love today.
At Arsenal I’ve grown tougher. I’ve learned to take so much more. I’ve toned a few more muscles than during my time at Real Madrid so I’m in a better position to meet the physical challenges.
But it’s a very fine line. I wouldn’t gain anything from spending hours on the bench, wildly pumping iron. If I were too muscular I’d be less nimble and sprightly. I reckon I’ve put on about a kilo and a half of muscle mass. Enough to survive the physical batterings but not so much that I’m too brawny to run.
Otherwise I haven’t changed that much as a player. Partly on the advice of Robert Pires, the Arsenal legend who often looked in on us when his career ended, even training with the injured players sometimes, so I got the chance to get to know him better. Over the years he has become more than a friend. He’s someone I can discuss problems with and whose opinion is incredibly important to me.
When the media started having a go at me again, demanding that I become more selfish and score more goals, I asked him what he thought. I wanted to know if he judged these criticisms to be correct.
He encouraged me to stick with my way of playing. ‘Let them say what they like,’ he said. ‘You’ve got a unique style. You’re not like Ronaldo. You’re different. You see spaces that barely any other player does. You can read a game. Trust in your extraordinary ability and don’t adjust your game merely
because this is what outsiders are telling you to do.’
It did me the world of good to hear this assessment from him. He’s not someone who tells me what I want to hear and doesn’t dare criticise me. Quite the opposite. After poor performances I had to listen to Pires say quite a lot, which I value enormously.
When I got an offer from China last summer, however, I didn’t need his advice because the offer was too absurd. The Chinese were prepared to pay me 9100 million net over a period of five years. A fairy tale amount of money that went beyond the limits of my imagination.
In spite of this it took me less than three minutes to decline the offer. My agent, Erkut, called me to let me know about the bid. He said: ‘I think we’re agreed what we’re going to do, aren’t we? You won’t consider it, will you?’
‘I’m nowhere near the end of my career,’ I replied. ‘I still want to win titles with Arsenal. I don’t want to play in China no matter how much they’re willing to pay. No way.’
And so the matter was settled. In the knowledge, by the way, that Chinese president Xi Jinping is a fan. On one occasion Arsenal’s managing director came to tell us that the president had contacted the club asking for my jersey with a dedication. In fact he wanted a Germany shirt and we promised to sort it out.
That same day a courier picked up the shirt from my house.
Gunning for Greatness: My Life by Mesut Ozil is published by Hodder & Stoughton on April 20, priced £20. Offer price £15 (25 per cent discount) until April 23. Pre-order at mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640. P&p is free on orders over £15.