If you did not know the answer to this question, you would never guess which of the current Arsenal squad that our German international star Mesut Ozil picked in his best XI. There are two and it would not take a genius to work out that the brilliant two footed midfield genius that is Santi Cazorla would be one of them.
The other one is a bit tougher and even of I told you that there was a bit of national bias involved, you would probably go for Lukas Podolski or Per Mertesacker, both of whom have appeared for the Mannschaft alongside Ozil many times and both of whom helped to win the World Cup in Brazil last summer.
But Ozil´s choice was Serge Gnabry and to make it even stranger, he picked the young wide man for one of the wide roles. Here is the German playmaker´s complete line up.
Casillas
Lahm, Boateng, Ramos, Marcelo
Di Maria, Cazorla, Alonso, Ronaldo
Gnabry, Benzema
Before you get too wound up, I should tell you that as well as the players all having been team mates of Ozil´s down the years, he did pick Gnabry with a cheeky grin, as you can see on the video in this Metro report, and he also reveals the reason is that the young Gunner was sat right next to him at the time and Gnabry does look like he has the strength to tie the older German up in knots.
All joking aside, Ozil has played with some of the best midfielders in the world and this just highlights how good Arsenal´s Spanish midfielder is. Considering the money we paid, was he Wenger´s best signing of the last 10 years?
I read this article on one other website and it says two gunners in ozil’s X1. First name came to mind was Sanchez but I was shocked to see Gnabry’s name. No way in this world Gnabry is better than Sanchez or even to many other current gunners.
Did you read the article?
He said he picked Gnabry because he was sitting right in front of him….
It was just a bit of fun mate, he clearly doesn’t rate an Arsenal teen over some of the best players he’s ever played with. One healthy sized face palm aimed your way.
Casillas over Neuer.. Alonso over Schweinsteiger.. Interesting. No surprises Giroud didn’t make the cut. Still hasn’t changed my opinion on Benzema though, overrated. Good but not top quality.
Would love to hear who is top quality and what makes them so. The arrogance of some fans to literally cast players aside for ridiculous reasons is far too frequent an occurrence on here. Please explain why Benzema is not top quality…..genuinely curious.
If you watched him and knew football it’d be really easy to tell that he is not world class. He’s not the ST we need
Brilliant analysis, lacking all reasoning whatsoever, instead you just hide behind the classic idiots line of “you don’t know football”. OK mate, the Real Madrid ST of the last 6 seasons is only decent…..gotcha.
Given you obviously do know football, I mean you say as much so clearly that makes it true……who are the top 15 ST’s in Europe? Humor me.
Benzema is not world class and being at Real Madrid doesn’t make him so,his scoring record is similar to Giroud’s,we need a striker who will score 20 Premier League goals
Hi Dee@ease. I think first and foremost, we need a striker who can score goals against anyone — stubborn defences and Chelsea included. If he only scores 17 or 18 whilst achieving this (given we have plenty of goalscorers who can score against lesser sides) I’d be happy with that, as it’d almost certainly mean more points.
One of the main issues with Giroud is that he fluffs things in tight spaces due to a lack of guile in those situations meaning that he always needs half a second longer. Benzema is capable of some fantastic quick movements and has good close control and first touch, so I can see why he has his admirers.
His scoring record is similar to Girouds? Is that a serious comment? please provide evidence of that….
From what I read Benzema has scored 20+ in 7 of 8 seasons since turning 20 (the only one he didn’t was his debut season at Real). Giroud has managed that feat 3 times in 8 seasons.
Having an opinion and trying to justify it is one thing, but making sh1t up so it serves your point of view is just stupid.
Being at Real Madrid makes him world class? Come on Charlie you can’t be serious your better than that and I’m not talking about 15 ST’s im talking about world class ST’s and benzema is not 1 of them
No, being Real’s ST for 6 seasons now is testament to his consistent ability to perform at THE highest level….is that not often considered the measurement of world class?
Also, naming the top 15 ST’s is surely a way of identifying the WC ST’s in Europe? Would love to know what make someone world class in your opinion. Point is if Benzema isn’t worthy then exactly who is?
Benzema scored over 20 league goals ONE time and that was 4 years ago. He is not a natural goal scorer or that quick ST that will stretch defenses. You’d think if we were getting a ST then wenger would be interested in the latter to compliment giroud and benzema is not that.
There are only a few world class ST’s right now imo those are in no particular order, Zlatan, Aguero, Suarez, Lewandowski.
You clearly haven’t a clue about Benzema at all.
For the record….
Suarez scored 16 league goals this year
Lewy scored 17 league goals this year
Zlatan scored 19 league goals this year.
But hey, it’s easy just to sit and talk a bunch of crap about a player….until your parameters are used against those you say are superior. Nice and consistent in your lack of reasoning at least, bravo.
Hahahah but when giroud puts up the same numbers he’s garbage and we desperately need an upgrade? Hahah keep contradicting yourself man
personal choice, is non of our business to start hating over who makes his 1st 11
Mikel Arteta gets a 1year extension that means no new DM unfortunately,Wenger is going to bottle this transfer window again,everybody knows we are a couple players short from truly challenging for the title
Off topic
maybe we are in for Pedro cause barca just bought turan. I don’t see Pedro staying now
Turan ? Pedro ?
Do they play same position ?
@Goonsquad8
Turan ? Pedro ?
Do they play same position ?
At Atletico, Turan played on the right of a 4-4-2. Seeing how barca play a classic 4-3-3, I can only assume he will play as a winger and not in the midfield 3 but I’m just speculating
barcelona are more geared to counter attack at pace this season and I don’t think turan is quick enough to take a place on either wing but then again I could be wrong.
Maybe they will convert him to a midfielder cause if they paid €40m for turan to sit on the bench is insane. I’m actually surprised they signed him
lol..Barcelona a team that basically won everything last year and has a transfer ban is still busy strengthening with new signing that wont even play..Arsenal on the other hand…
Ozils best moment was as a Real Madrid player, that would explain the no of Madristas in the list.
Metro reported, its bullsh*t
Answer to the question at the end of the article….yes…Santi is a gem and wenger performed a magic trick to get him
Well, Santi was a bargain no doubt. How much did Bosscielny cost?