2014 World Cup Winner Mesut Ozil Hangs His Boots: Playmaker With Unique Skills, Magic Left Foot

ANKARA , (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Mar, 2023 ) :Germany's Mesut Ozil, who won the 2014 FIFA World Cup, was a playmaker having brilliant skills in the offense as well as a magic left foot.

After an illustrious club and national team career, Ozil retired from football at the age of 34 on Wednesday.

During his football career, he played for famed clubs such as Real Madrid and Arsenal and won several trophies.

Near the end of his career, he played for T�rkiye's Fenerbahce and Medipol Basaksehir.

Regarded as one of the best playmakers, Ozil was born to a Turkish immigrant family on Oct. 15, 1988, in Germany's Gelsenkirchen.

Gelsenkirchen is the hometown of Schalke 04 football club, where Ozil played before his move to another German club Werder Bremen.

After a five-year stint for Rot-Weiss Essen at the youth level, he joined Schalke in 2005.

Ozil played for both Schalke's youth and senior teams before joining Werder Bremen in January 2008.

In his new club, he started to gain attention with his playmaking abilities and his value started to increase.

Ozil chose to play for the German national team in 2009, one of the turning points in his career. He made his Germany debut in 2009, a friendly against Norway.

As an attacking midfielder, Ozil played against T�rkiye in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualification round match held in 2010.

He preferred not to have a goal celebration after scoring once in the game, which Germany won 3-0.

- Tenure with Real Madrid After a good display in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he bagged a bronze medal, Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid signed him.

He was expected to back up ex-Brazilian star Kaka, one of Ozil's idols.

Kaka, who is considered one of the more talented players of his generation, was troubled by injuries during his time at Real Madrid, which meant Ozil was manned as the playmaker of the Whites.

Ozil finished the 2010-11 season with 25 assists, the highest for any player in any major European competition that season.

The next season, Jose Mourinho-helmed Real Madrid grabbed a historic Spanish La Liga championship with 100 points, breaking both point and goal records of the league, while Ozil earned a nomination for UEFA Best Player in Europe Award.

He tallied 27 goals and 81 assists in 159 games for Real Madrid.

- New challenge in his life After spending three years in Madrid, Ozil left the Spanish giants for Arsenal in 2013 for �47 million ($62.4 million).

This move made him the most expensive German football player at that time.

Ozil made a decent display with the Gunners and he bagged a total of four English FA Cups with Arsenal in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2020.

In the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Ozil's time with the team was limited by the team management until he was left out of Arsenal's 25-man Premier League squad in 2020.

Ozil, who netted 44 goals and made 79 assists in 254 appearances for the Gunners, decided to move on and join his favorite Turkish club Fenerbahce in January 2021.

He was one of the biggest signings of Fenerbahce.

After scoring nine goals and making three assists for the Yellow Canaries, he joined another Turkish side Medipol Basaksehir in 2022, where he played in only seven matches until his retirement on Wednesday.