Ozil talks retirement, his season so far and Emery’s impact

Given Mesut Ozil’s status as Arsenal’s most high-profile player, he does, compared to his team-mates, relatively few interviews with the club’s official website.

Indeed, aside from the odd post-match comment, we’ve barely heard from the midfielder this season. It may well be that he’s trying to keep his head down after the way things panned out with Germany. And honestly, that’s just fine.

Of course, being anonymous isn’t ideal if you’ve just teamed up with Mathieu Flamini to launch a range of sustainable grooming products. When that happens, you have to stick your head above the parapet and chat to the media; the hope being you flog a few bottles of shampoo along the way.

Unsurprisingly, sports journalists aren’t overly interested in talking about the finite details of moisturiser, so questions at launch events tend to turn to more mainstream matters.

Here’s a round-up of what Ozil’s had to say at yesterday’s launch of ‘Unity’.

On when he might retire…

“I am still young, I am 30. In football, everything is possible but I am really happy to play for a big club like Arsenal. I just enjoy it and I can imagine finishing my career at Arsenal. Maybe aged 38! No, really, I always think if I feel well, I could go on until I am 35 or 36, I don’t know. If everything is good, we’ll see.”

On Emery’s impact…

“Of course, the first two games were difficult for us [they suffered defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea] because everything was new after Wenger. But now you can see that we are going forward step by step. We are in a good way and want to continue that under him. He is a really good coach, he wants to understand the players, the club and we want to show him on the pitch what we can do.”

On being attuned to life outside football…

“I think footballers are more socially aware nowadays. Outside of football, I think footballers do a lot of social work. I’m aware I have a huge fanbase in the world and that a lot of people look at what I do, they follow me. So I know maybe I can affect a little bit how they see things from their side. I think it’s important if you have the opportunity to do it, you should. If we believe in it, then why not try and bring the message to others and the world.”

On his relationship with Flamini…

“I always looked up to Mathieu, he has more experience than me. When I arrived in Arsenal he helped me settle in London, he was like an older brother to me. And he always talking about sustainability, saving the planet.”

On dealing with criticism…

“I know there are people out there that like me, there are also people who don’t like me,’ Ozil says. This is a fact of life. But, for me, what is important is what the people in my inner circle tell me. I don’t care what people say outside of that. It doesn’t affect me. If the coach, or people in my circle, tell me: “Mesut you have to do this, or have to do that” then I listen. I’ll take that and work on it. But I don’t look at what someone else is saying. It really doesn’t affect me.”

On his season so far…

“Personally, things are going well but that doesn’t mean I stop working but the most important thing is that the team is going well at the moment. But it’s a process — every coach has a different strategy or philosophy and we can feel it. It’s a tactical thing with the new coach. We are learning from him, we are trying to give our best on the pitch every day and every hour. But we have to keep being hungry, and keep progressing. It’s not like we are done now (because we have gone 14 games unbeaten). It’s like we are just starting. We are doing well for now, but that doesn’t mean we stop.

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Quotes were sourced from interviews by James Olley of the Evening Standard and Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail…we can’t link to the latter article, because the latter article comes from the latter publication.