Mohamed Elneny has praised Mesut Ozil for being humble and revealed the German helped advise him on his loan move to Besiktas; his teammates’ favourite Turkish club.
It’s no secret that Ozil is Arsenal’s highest-paid player by some margin, likewise, it’s relatively well known that he gives away a lot of cash to charity, including funding the operations of underprivileged children around the world.
We’re not quite sure what Mo was thinking when he met Ozil, but it sounds like he might have expected the World Cup winner to be a bit up himself given his fame and fortune.
Speaking about his pal to Turkish publication Sabah (translated by Goal.com), Elneny said the opposite was true.
He said: “When Mesut joined from Real Madrid I thought he would be arrogant and full of himself after playing at such a big club.
“However, he is so humble and respectful. He never saw himself above the club. There are footballers playing at far smaller clubs who have got a far bigger ego.
“Mesut surprised me and my teammates at Arsenal, everyone has respect for him.”
The comments are slightly odd given Ozil predated Elneny’s arrival at the Emirates by three years, but we get the point.
He went on to say: “With Mesut, we are like brothers. Before I moved to Turkey he was who I spoke to, he assisted me, I could ask him anything and asked about Besiktas, he advised me on my transfer.”
Mesut Ozil, super agent. You heard it here first. On that subject, we wonder if he might also be lending a hand to Shkodran Mustafi?
The defender changed agent this week and he’s now being linked with a loan move to Fenerbahce, according to Aksam Spor.
Mustafi, under contract until 2021, was told by Unai Emery that he was surplus to requirements back the summer. It looked very likely he’d leave but as soon as suitors got wind of his wages they seemed to back away.
So far this season, the German has had to make do with game time in the cup competitions and the odd cameo off the bench. Still only 27 he’s probably starting to wonder whether a move sooner rather than later might be better for his career.
He spoke a couple of months ago about having to deal with the abuse directed his way after poor performances and more recently reasserted that he would continue to keep his head down and keep working on his game.
Will he move on loan this month? Maybe, but as always, we’re cautious with reports from Turkey.
Hope Ozil keeps improving.
I don’t think he’s improving. I think he’s just running, chasing, tackling… Now any Ozilphile will tell you that he’s always ran and we’ve unfairly persecuted him for playing without urgency.
But look at the player he is when he truly commits and isn’t it a massive shame that he didn’t learn that lesson earlier in his career? What a player we would have had for the last 6 and a half seasons.
What lesson did Ozil have to learn earlier in his career? You are talking about a world class player and World Cup winner who has been German player of the year on 5 occasions and has been one of the most creative players in the world. Outstanding at Real Madrid and in his first years at Arsenal where he helped us win 3 FA Cups and was the quickest player to 50 assists. However it’s good to see him looking more like the old Ozil but I still don’t think he has had many lessons to learn
Yes his time at Real was good but they still sold him. And here’s a direct quote from one of Mourinho’s half time team talks: “I want you to go into tackles like a man. Do you know what it looks like when you tackle? No? Let me show you.” Sound familiar? I’m not saying Ozil has been bad. On the contrary, as you say, the stats are impressive. But the thing that keeps Ozil from the ballon d’or is the fact he doesn’t fully commit at all times. In talent he’s up there with Messi and Ronaldo. But history… Read more »
For the record, I did retort. But it’s in moderation purgatory. And given Andrew is spinning Bowie tunes all night, by the time you get it the whole conversation will be ashes to ashes.
You do make a good point though, I like your hustle.
The lesson of running and closing down cos it’s now the modern game’s way and working for the team instead of being a burden. At real cos of their superiority he could move into space when the team lost the ball cos the attack was so much better and they’d create and finish off more chances, but it’s different at arsenal.
Elneny: “Before I moved to Turkey he was who I spoke to, he ASSISTED me…”
Özil can’t stop! I’m sure we’ll see more of it on the pitch under Arteta.
What game is Mustafi keeping his head down and working on? Tiddliwinks?
Awful
With a better structure to the team and paucity of CB choice, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mustafi gets opportunity to do better. Ofcourse he might have his moments but the last ditch defending will not be as required in a better structure.
Clean slate means Mustafi is no more surplus to requirements.
The slate was re-dirtied with that second Chelsea goal, no coach can account for that at his age.
Absolutely. If Otamendi can make a career at City, Mustafi should definitely be considering his chances and pray Arteta can set us up right.
I wouldn’t have otamendi near this team either, he’s the Argentine mustafi
The issue with Mustafi for me isn’t just that he needs to resort to last ditch defending, it’s that too often he performs last ditch actions in moments where they are not required and ends up giving away penalties, free kicks, or allowing the opponent to pass him.
No structure can legislate for what happened on the second Chelsea goal. That’s just a guy who doesn’t understand basic principles of how to defend.
“There are footballers playing at far smaller clubs who have got a far bigger ego.”
Pogba haha.
Manchester United!
Hahahaha!
Quality, I tell you. Quality!
We need to cash in on Elneny, Mustafi and Mhki. Send Eddie, Smith Rowe and Willock on loan. Bring in a Center back, and central midfielder to see out the season.
In the summer is where the real business start. We are gonna need to upgrade in defense, maybe getting a right back and 2 decent Centre backs. gonna have to bring in an attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder and winger who can play both wings. Keep Laca and Auba
Ya know, playing video games all day will rot your brain.
Why Mkhitaryan? He’s playing well and can play as a back or midfielder
I had a brain storm I was thinking of Kolasinac not Mkhitaryan
Mustafi departure will depend on Cback availability. He’s definitely shrinked wrapped at the moment considering Sokratis filled in at Rback. Probably if we can engineer an early inclusion of say Saliba, it makes sense to release Mustafi. If not and with Chambers injured, we have currently Sokratis and Luiz, Holding. Mavropanos is not any better and frankly needs to go out on a strong loan to accelerate development. Holding as we saw last game was also poor mispassing many more times than Mustafi would. Mustafi is not a strong defender but our options beyond Sokratis frankly not much stronger. Saliba… Read more »
It’s like Turkish clubs have some sort of Auto-send settings where pre-written rumors get sent off as soon as the transfer windows start.
We can’t sell anyone huh.. this is bad.. we are desperate to remove them from wage bill!
I’m pretty sure Mesut is a Fenerbahce fan, not Besiktas. He’s spoken about wanting to play for them before.
A sentence to haunt us forever…”Mustafi under contract until 2021”
Is el neny still an Arsenal player?
“Elneny said the opposite was true.
He said: “When Mesut joined from Real Madrid I thought he would be arrogant and full of himself after playing at such a big club.”
Elneny was not at Arsenal when M. Ozil joined from Madrid
Also pretty sure Ozil is a Fenerbache fan not Bestikas