Puuhapete
 Poissa
|
 |
Vastaus #5353 : 13.08.2020 klo 11:49:48 |
|
Alla Özilin haastattelu Athleticista, jos kiinnostaa lukea kokonaan.
Mesut Özil has moved to close down speculation over his future by confirming that he will remain at Arsenal until the end of his contract next summer, with the German playmaker determined to put a difficult period behind him and finish an eight-year career in north London on a high. Talking exclusively to The Athletic, Özil dismissed any notion of him leaving the Emirates Stadium before his £350,000-per-week deal expires in June and pledged to prove he can still make a valuable contribution if he is given an opportunity by head coach Mikel Arteta.
“My position is clear,” says the 31-year-old. “I’m here through to the last day of our agreement and I’ll give everything I have for this club. Situations like these will never break me, they only make me stronger. I showed in the past that I can come back into the team and I will show it again.”
Özil also spoke for the first time about rejecting a pay cut during the COVID-19 shutdown, admitting it may have contributed to his lack of game time since the Premier League’s restart but standing by that decision. The forward also addressed the controversy that followed a social media post he released in December condemning China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims and the response of fellow Muslims.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic last October, Özil expressed his intention to stay with Arsenal until “at least 2021”, despite falling out of favour with then-head coach Unai Emery. Emery was later sacked and Özil returned to the line-up under interim boss Freddie Ljungberg before starting all 10 of Arteta’s Premier League fixtures before the sport went into lockdown in March. But after the resumption in June, he did not play a minute of Arsenal’s 13 matches in all competitions and Arteta refused to discuss the matter at length, citing “pure football reasons” for Özil’s absence. Although the former Real Madrid star was sidelined for a short spell with a back problem and was named among the substitutes twice, he did not set foot on the pitch and was given permission to begin his summer break early as Arsenal prepared for their FA Cup final victory over Chelsea. It led to renewed suggestions that Özil could be on his way out of the club and some reports indicated they might even look to pay up the remainder of his contract to settle the predicament and release funds to aid the rebuilding job they hope to conduct in the current transfer window. “I’ll decide when I go, not other people,” counters Özil, who joined Arsenal from Real Madrid for £42.5 million in 2013 and secured the four-year deal worth £350,000 per week, that has become such a bone of contention, in 2018. “I didn’t sign for two or three years, I signed for four and that should be respected by everyone. Things have obviously been difficult but I love Arsenal, I love to work there, I love the people in the club — the real people, those I’ve been with for a long time — and I love London, it’s my home. “Whatever happened in the last two seasons, I’m happy and very strong mentally. I never give up on anything. I want to help my team and I’ll fight for it. If I’m fit, I know what I can do on the pitch.”
Physical condition was assumed to be a factor in Özil’s post-lockdown non-selection, though Arteta’s public comments focused more on wanting players who were “on the boat” — he explained that to mean there is a set of values and behaviours he expects his squad to display on a daily basis. Özil says he was ready to play under Arteta and believes he still has something to offer Arsenal. “I can’t talk about my private conversations with the coach,” Özil says. “But I can tell you I know my body well. I was fit enough to play every game before the break and, apart from a small injury, it was the same after. My daughter was born while we were off so maybe I was not always sleeping perfectly, but this is normal. I actually had more energy and excitement to play because of her. “As a player, you sometimes have bad days and can’t always be happy, especially if you’re not playing. When you know how good you are and you know you’re not going to be picked, it’s hard to be at 100 per cent and, of course, you can get disappointed. This is my profession, it’s what I love doing: being on the pitch, playing matches, showing the people, helping the club and my team. “I fully respect the coach’s decision but I believe these things should mainly be decided on the pitch. After the restart, I wasn’t given a chance to show what I can do. You don’t play 10 games in a row if you’re unfit, not good enough or don’t behave well. If I played these games badly and was then left out completely for that reason then I might understand, but this was not the case.”
The coronavirus outbreak resulted in football’s suspension and many clubs sought to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic by asking certain employees to take salary adjustments. With the Professional Footballers’ Association — the players’ union — advising its members to contemplate wage deferrals as opposed to cuts until the extent of the crisis was better known, Arsenal’s proposal to the first-team squad of a 12.5 per cent cut for 12 months was initially turned down. Arteta intervened, pleading with his players to accept the club’s request, and eventually, they became the first and so far only Premier League club to successfully implement pay reductions.
It has been reported that Özil was ultimately alone in declining to be involved and the subject resurfaced last week when Arsenal announced 55 redundancies, angering some of their players, who had agreed to the pay cuts on the condition that all staff would retain their jobs as a consequence.
“As players, we all wanted to contribute,” Özil stresses. “But we needed more information and many questions were unanswered. Everyone was fine with a deferral while there was so much uncertainty — I would have been OK to take a bigger share — and then a cut if required, once the football and financial outlook was clearer. But we were rushed into it without proper consultation. “For anyone in this situation, you have a right to know everything, to understand why it is happening and where the money is going. But we didn’t get enough details, we just had to give a decision. It was far too quick for something so important and there was a lot of pressure.
“This was not fair, especially for the young guys, and I refused. I had a baby at home and have commitments to my family here, in Turkey and in Germany — to my charities, too, and also a new project we started to support people in London that was from the heart and not for publicity. “People who know me know exactly how generous I am and, as far as I’m aware, I was not the only player who rejected the cut in the end, but only my name came out. I guess that’s because it is me and people have been trying for two years to destroy me, to make me unhappy, to push an agenda they hope will turn the supporters against me and paint a picture that is not true.
“Possibly the decision affected my chances on the pitch, I don’t know. But I’m not afraid to stand up for what I feel is right — and when you see what has happened now with the jobs, maybe I was.”
Arteta is not the first Arsenal boss to ostracise Özil, though, and the fact it also occurred during Emery’s tenure points to something deeper. The reality is that the hierarchy would like the 2014 World Cup winner to move on, a desire not shared by the man himself, and therein lies the issue. “It’s hard. When a player wants to leave and the club says no, the player must accept it unless they find a solution together. So when a club wants a player to leave and the player says no, the club must accept it unless a solution can be found together. I don’t want to leave, so that’s it,” Özil says. “In 2018, I had plenty of options that would have earned me far more money as a free agent, but I committed myself to Arsenal because this was the club and the fanbase I wanted to play for. In that sense, nothing has changed. Mikel knows my quality and I will be ready when he needs me.
“I’m not going into pre-season thinking, ‘Final year, I can chill — I know I don’t play’. These are not easy times for Arsenal and I want to help. I still have a lot to offer and I train as hard as I can, whether I’m in the squad or not. If you’re called in, you have to be prepared. I’m doing all the necessary work on the pitch, with the fitness coach and in the gym. This is all I can do.”
It is mentioned that Arsenal’s performance statistics with and without Özil last season do not reflect well on the former Germany international, although he did excel in certain attacking categories throughout that sequence of Premier League appearances before lockdown. “If you consider the circumstances, you cannot use these statistics. If you have to, it is more accurate to look at the data for my whole Arsenal career and also from the 10 games after Mikel was appointed — not so bad for someone who had barely been picked for a year and a half,” he says. “People will always love or hate you, and the main thing is the people who know you and what they think. What the people outside say about my play or my character is irrelevant — they just speak bullshit to make publicity and they know by using my name it will bring them attention. “Do it as much as you like. I don’t care, or listen to people who don’t know me. I didn’t get here because of them but because of the family and friends who I trust and are always behind me.”
Özil was in the eye of an entirely different storm late last year when he criticised the alleged persecution of Uighur Muslims in China, remarks from which Arsenal distanced themselves.“Every human is equal,” says Özil, who is of the Islamic faith. “It doesn’t matter what religion or colour you are — Muslim, Christian, Jew, black, white or anything else. We are all the same. “What I said was not against Chinese people, it was against whoever is doing this to the Uighur Muslims and other people who are not helping them, such as other Muslim countries. “I have given a lot to Arsenal, on and off the pitch, so the reaction was disappointing. They said they don’t get involved in politics but this isn’t politics and they have got involved in other issues. “In America, we saw George Floyd killed and the world spoke up to say Black Lives Matter, and that is correct. We are all equal and it’s a good thing that people fight against injustice. There are a lot of black players and fans of Arsenal and it’s fantastic the club is backing them. “But I wish people would have done the same for the Muslims because Arsenal have many Muslim players and fans as well, and it is important for the world to say that Muslim Lives Matter.”
|
