Mesut Ozil has reflected on his time at Arsenal after announcing his retirement from professional football.
The 34-year-old explained his decision to hang up his boots, revealing that in recent months and after a number of injury problems, it has “become more and more clear” to him that he needed to walk away from the sport.
Ozil put up a Twitter post with six images of him as an Arsenal player, starting with the day he arrived from Real Madrid in the summer of 2013 in a £42million move.
There is unsurprisingly a strong FA Cup theme to the collage, with Ozil lifting the trophy on four occasions during his time in north London. The first of those came in 2014, at the end of his first season at the club, and the Gunners defended their crown a year later with a comfortable final win over Aston Villa.
Ozil also opted for an image of his superb goal against Ludogorets in the Champions League back in 2016, as he lifted the ball over the goalkeeper, sat two defenders down and rolled the ball into the empty net to give Arsenal a 3-2 win over the Bulgarian side.
#YaGunnersYa @Arsenal ❤️ pic.twitter.com/dnJi2MJoG1
— Mesut Özil (@M10) March 22, 2023
The final picture showed the midfielder posing for a picture with Charlie Middleton, a young Arsenal fan with cancer who Ozil hosted at a number of Arsenal fans. Ozil took to social media to pay tribute to Charlie after he passed away in 2018.
“Such sad news to hear that my friend and huge Arsenal supporter Charlie has passed away after his long battle with cancer,” he tweeted.
“Rest in peace! We will miss you so much, Charlie.”
