After leaving Arsenal to play in Turkey for the final few years of his career. German playmaker, Mesut Ozil recently announced his retirement from the game.
Ozil’s most recent team was Istanbul Basaksehir, which he signed for on a free transfer last summer. He appeared in just seven of the club’s competitive games. Before he decided to call almost 17 years footballing career to an end.
Following his announcement, Ozil recently had a conversation with MARCA. He covered a variety of topics related to his successful career. Most notably, the playmaker explained why, early in his career, he passed on FC Barcelona.
“The decision was between Barcelona and Real Madrid. It wasn’t about the money, I don’t know if you know the story but I visited Barcelona and Real Madrid. The difference is [Jose] Mourinho,” he said.
Ozil, a former player for Werder Bremen and Schalke, signed to join Real Madrid for a €18 million contract in 2010. The decision proved to be a great one. As the German amassed 81 assists for Los Blancos in just 159 competitive games.
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Ozil said that in addition to Mourinho, the atmosphere at the Bernabeu was another factor in his decision to sign with Real Madrid.
“Mo gave me a VIP visit to Real Madrid and I saw the stadium and the trophies they won, which gave me goosebumps,” he said.
“The visit to Barcelona was less enthusiastic and disappointing Pep did not bother to meet me, although I liked Barcelona’s style of football and really imagined playing with them. But Real Madrid came out with everything and Mourinho was the most important factor in my decision,” he added.
