Career & Net Worth Of Mesut Özil

3 years ago

Career & Net Worth Of Mesut Özil

Mesut Ozil is a German professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Arsenal as an attacking midfielder, but can also be deployed as a winger. He is renowned for his technical skills and creativity; due to his agility, finesse and versatility as an attacking midfielder.

Early Life

Mesut Özil was born on October 15th of 1988 in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany. Born into a Turkish family, Mesut grew up speaking both German and Turkish – although his placement in a school with other ethic Turks made learning German difficult during his early years. Özil was raised as a Muslim, a religion that he still practices to this day. Özil started playing soccer at a very young age.

Career

After playing as a child for various clubs in Gelsenkirchen and Essen, Mesut was taken into the youth system of Schalke. Although he was seen as an incredible new talent for the German side, Özil refused a contract offer that included 1.5 million euros per year, claiming that the sum was insufficient. As a result, he was signed by Werder Bremen for 5 million euros in 2008. After spending a relatively short period with Werder Bremen, Özil was then snapped up by Real Madrid, who were among the many clubs impressed by the young German after watching him at the 2010 World Cup.

Real Madrid paid 15 million euros for Özil, and he quickly won a starting place in the team's lineup because of an injury to Kaka. He played in the Champions League that year for the first time, and it wasn't long before Los Blancos fans were giving him standing ovations. He finished that season with 25 assists, which was the best out of all the European leagues.

Jose Mourinho was a vocal admirer of Özil, and he relied on him as a playmaker from 2011 onwards. During this high point in Mesut's career, he was considered for the Ballon d'Or and he stated that he wished to end his career at Real Madrid. Despite this, Mesut agreed to join Arsenal in 2014 for about 42.5 million pounds. This made him the most expensive German player of all time.

Özil played well for Arsenal during the first season, earning another nomination for the Ballon d'Or and racking up plenty of assists. This continued for many years, and in 2018 he signed a contract extension with Arsenal that doubled his salary. This made him the club's highest-paid player in history. Later that year, he was not included in a number of key matches, leading many observers to ask questions. He was then continuously left out of the team's starting lineup throughout the next few years before the coronavirus caused the league to be suspended. However, Özil remained sidelined even when the season restarted later in 2020.

Contracts

Mesut joined Arsenal in 2013 for 42.5 million pounds. He then signed a three-year contract extension with the team in 2017 that doubled his annual base salary from $12 million per year to $24 million. That's enough to make him one of the 10 highest-paid soccer players in the world. Later, he famously refused to accept a pay cut as an Arsenal player – a move that infuriated fans.