Arsene Wenger believes Mesut Ozil can be a legend at Arsenal if he commits his future to the club. Ozil has been superb form for the gunners and scored a superb goal, the winner against Ludogorets in their last Champions league match, highlighting his importance to the team. Ozil’s contract runs out in 2018 and he is yet to commit his future to the club and Wenger believes staying at the club for a long time will make the German world cup winner a legend just like Dennis Bergkamp.
Wenger speaking ahead of Sunday’s North London derby with rivals Tottenham said
“There are similarities with Bergkamp. I think he can become a legend if he commits. Dennis Bergkamp committed for a long period, played until he was 38. I wish we have ten more years of Ozil. That depends. To become a legend at the club you need to stay for a long time. I understand that being a legend like Dennis Bergkamp, if you stay two years you would not be a legend. “We work on it, we work on it.”
On his recent form and performances, Wenger had this to say
“I believe he is at an age he is more mature. He is 28. The difference today is he focuses more on efficiency. When he arrived here he was more a player to play, focused on playing. Today efficiency is more in his mind. The main transformation we got from him, he makes more runs in behind to score goals.
“I always encouraged him. I convinced him that he has it in his locker to score goals. He was more focused on giving and looking. Today he understands that he can have those qualities but as well be on the end of things.
The timing of his runs is good. In training I noticed he is a very good finisher. When you have that in your locker you have to try to get it out. Slowly, he now realizes that.
On top of that he has a fantastic attribute of a guy who is a good finisher – he is calm. You notice all the finishers are killers. That means they keep their nerve in front of goal and he has that. He pushes himself much more. He has that in him as well. Sometimes the trap for very talented players is it is easy for them.
They know subconsciously they don’t need to push themselves too hard to be efficient. It’s so easy. I can’t tell you because I was never in that situation!
Where he lives he is certainly in London. It is difficult not to be happy in London. I believe that happiness that a player has when he plays comes out by his performance. I hope he is happy.”
