Mesut Özil, a former midfielder for Real Madrid and Arsenal, has given up playing football.
Mesut Özil, the former Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder, has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 34. The German international, who won the World Cup with his country in 2014, was once regarded as one of the best players in the world in his position. During his career, Özil won the La Liga title with Real Madrid in 2012 and four FA Cup titles with Arsenal between 2014 and 2020. He was also part of the Germany squad at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups, scoring 23 goals in 92 appearances for his country.
Özil began his club career in Germany with Schalke and Werder Bremen before spending three years at Real Madrid and eight with Arsenal. He then moved to Turkey to play for Fenerbahçe and İstanbul Başakşehir. Özil was known for his superb passing and playmaking abilities, having recorded at least 20 assists in each of his three seasons with Madrid. At Arsenal, his 19 assists in the Premier League during the 2015/16 season were just one shy of the league record held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
During his career, Özil scored 44 goals in 254 appearances for Arsenal but was frozen out of Mikel Arteta’s squad in his final season, despite reportedly being one of the team’s highest-paid earners. He failed to win more silverware in the final two years of his career in Turkey and had limited playing time with Başakşehir due to injury problems.
Named Germany’s player of the year on five occasions, Özil played in all of his country’s World Cup games in 2010 and 2014, when he was an instrumental part of the team that beat Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 final. However, he played his final game for the national team at the 2018 World Cup before announcing his international retirement, citing racism and disrespect.
In a statement announcing his retirement, Özil thanked fans, friends, and family for their support throughout his career. He also expressed excitement for his future with his wife and daughters and promised to keep in touch with fans on social media.
