Ozil is the mercenary, not Alexis by ThirdManJW
To this day, I find it extraordinary the love Ozil gets over Alexis. Understandable in way I guess, considering the mass following Ozil has on social media, but shouldn’t we be considering their attitude, and performances as well?
I decided to look at Ozil’s, and Alexis’s Arsenal legacies, and I think we need to re-evaluate our opinions on these two. Although divisive, Ozil is still getting love from large parts of the Arsenal fanbase (I use the term “fanbase” loosely), whilst Alexis’s time at Arsenal has been viewed negatively by many. Which baffles me considering their respective impacts at Arsenal.
Putting emotions aside, I don’t think anyone could have begrudged Alexis a move when he did, because Arsenal were only heading in one direction under Wenger. He joined a bigger club, to play under a better manager, so ambition played a big decision in his move to Utd. However, Alexis was labelled a mercenary for joining Man Utd over City, which I get. City were the better club at the time, and had Pep in charge. To be fair though, playing time would have also played a role in his decision to join Utd, given City already had Sterling, Sane, and Mahrez on their books. Either way, one can understand the mercenary tag put upon Alexis. One last big payday!
It’s unfair that many then saw Alexis only in monetary terms, especially given his move to Inter. He took a massive pay cut to join them. Is that the act of a footballing mercenary? Of course not! He wasn’t happy at Utd, and wasn’t’ getting enough game time, so he took a lot less money to find happiness again. His pay cut move to Inter, doesn’t’ undo what happened when he left us for Utd, but maybe we as fans should start giving him a little slack. Alexis clearly is not a classic case of a footballing mercenary. He also wanted to happy.
Let us also not forget that Alexis was brilliant for us! Even those games when he gave the ball away a lot, he still worked his socks off, and would hunt down the ball the very second, he lost it. He would score both crucial, and spectacular goals as well, and pretty much carried the team on his back! We can debate is attitude off the pitch (although I 100% back his wanting to win “too much” attitude that Bellerin told us about), but no Arsenal fan can complain about what he did on the pitch. Yes, he looked disinterested in his final six months, but blame Wenger and Gazidis for that. They decided to not sell a player, with only 12 months left on their deal, and who desperately wanted to leave. Despite that, I think Alexis was still our top/joint scorer that season, and first or second in assists for us as well, at the time of his departure. So, his productivity was always extremely high. He didn’t have a bad season for us.
Then we have Ozil…Who just refuses to budge! Alexis gets labelled a mercenary, despite still getting game time, whilst Ozil has been told he will not play for us again, and hasn’t for over half a year, yet it’s perfectly fine for him to sit on his massive contract, in the eyes of many. Ozil is a perfect example of a true footballing mercenary! He’s working in a difficult environment where the club don’t want him, many Arsenal fans have had it with him as well, and he knows he won’t be playing any more football, yet he refuses to move. Some may argue, money is not the issue, he’s staying to punish Arsenal, for whatever reason. If that is the case, then that puts him in an even worse light, than any mercenary tag could do.
Then we have Ozil’s Arsenal history. Whilst Alexis was brilliant, Ozil, who, by the end of his Arsenal career of 8 years, will have given us only one good season, and will have cost the club well over 100 million. Before his exile, he had done pretty much nothing for 3 years solid. Even before that, didn’t really do away games, and often vanished against quality opponents. The Ozil Arsenal got, was not the one Real had. He did get a lot of assists, but it’s not just about that.
Apart from assists, he hardly offered anything else. To be a top player, and contributing to a team, you have to do more. It’s been no surprise, the very second Wenger left, Ozil got found out by subsequent managers. The fans had seen it for years, and FINALLY we had managers doing the same. Ozil has shown a terrible attitude as well, both on and off the pitch. Acting like a petulant child at times, and hiding behind his social media team.
So, in terms of performances, and attitude, Alexis wipes the floor with Ozil, and we now have evidence that it’s Ozil that is the real mercenary. It wasn’t my intention to play these two off each other, I just find it interesting how they are viewed amongst fans, regarding their productivity and attitude at Arsenal, and obviously the financial issues as well. Given what has happened, I now view Alexis in a better light. He has scarified a huge amount of extra money to be happy, which in turn, has really helped out Utd. Ozil just disgusts me even more nowadays! Because I am an Arsenal fan above anything, and Ozil is deliberately causing harm to the club I love.
In light of new evidence, I wonder if others have changed their opinions on these two?
ThirdManJW