Mesut Özil is one of the most elegant artists in the world football. That is still valid, even if he played just a mediocre season at Arsenal and had a fiasco with the national team at the World Cup - a declaration of love.

There have always been mixed opinions on Mesut Özil's way of playing football. Following his retirement from the national team, that was immediately proven again by Uli Hoeness, who described the performance of the 29-year-old in recent years summarily as "the last dirt" and called him an "alibi player" Hoeneß's confused statement probably owes more to his choleric nature than expert knowledge, because Özil - anyone who has ever seen him live in the stadium knows how he interprets, finds and manages spaces - is a great footballer and has been for years.

Mesut Özil is an artist with the ball...

At this point, one can pick out many scenes from Özil's career and take them as an example of his game. At Real, he and Emmanuel Adebayor tricked an entire defense with their one-two. In the national team dress, he destroyed Holland together with Klose and Müller. At Werder Bremen, he shone in the 5:2 match against Bayern at the Allianz Arena. Özils one-touch football is unique in Germany. The review of the Champions League-2016/2017 shows the best what the football player Ozil can do. His winner against Ludogorets Razgard in the 88th minute was the most beautiful goal of the competition. In an incomparable way, Özil lops the ball in full swing over the goalkeeper, then gets past two opponents and pushes the ball into the net. Noislers like Hoeneß will say that was just a second-rate opponent. That's right in this case. But the goal symbolizes the elegance and beauty of Özil's game, in which all movements are always fluid and so precise that they can make the opponents go astray. Özil is an artist with the ball with an incredible eye for teammates.

... and also the numbers speak for his skill

Those for whom his style is not a valid argument, may take a look at the statistics. The record of the genius from Gelsenkirchen is impressive. In the Premier League alone, Özil scored 27 goals in 142 games and delivered 54 assists (not only against weak opponents, mind you).

These numbers prove why his coach at Arsenal, Arsène Wenger, as well as the national coach Joachim Loew think so highly of him. They have always defended Ozil, even when he had weaker spells. José Mourinho, who coached Özil at Real Madrid, called him "unique". Who needs even more numbers: At Real Madrid, Özil provided 19 goals and 55 assists in 105 matches, and in the national team, 23 goals and 40 assists - they were all outstanding.

Drooping shoulders belong to him, just like his genial skills

Özil's fate is that he is more criticized than others when he has a weaker game. Then there is much talk of his body language and his drooping shoulders. At such moments, Özil seems to suffer and become even more reserved. His drooping shoulders belong to him as well as his ingenious abilities. 

But Özil's fate is that he will even be criticized for delivering a solid performance and giving stability to Arsenal or the national team with his passes and ball control. He is an exceptional player, measured only at the highest scales. If he only plays an average game, that is too little for many.

For the national team, his retirement is a loss. The game will change, in whatever direction. For nine years he has worn the German eagle on his chest. It was wonderful years for his fans, but to be honest - for all the fans, because he has so often made the difficult seem so easy, thus creating countless underrated moves in the national team. With his drooping shoulders, he often led the game more than Michall Ballack could with his physique. However, to really gauge Özil's value, you do not have to indulge yourself. All you have to do is cite a quote from Philipp Lahm, said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Mesut was much criticized at the 2014 World Cup, but he was one of our main players, you could give him the ball under pressure, and he never lost it." Anyone who has ever played football knows how important this quality is for every team. Maybe even Uli Hoeneß remembers how it was when he stood on the pitch himself.

Source: Stern