His hours of glory were far away, his career is now over. Mesut Özil announced on Wednesday that he was retiring at the age of 34. "In recent months and weeks, after suffering from several injuries, it has become increasingly clear that it is time for me to leave this great world of football," the 2014 world champion said in a lengthy message posted on Twitter.

The former Werder Bremen, Real Madrid and Arsenal player has unleashed passions, on and off the pitch. He signed with Basaksehir last July for one season, after a difficult spell at Fenerbahçe where he came into conflict with his management. Ozil had already ended up in the closet at Arsenal, his previous club.



The story had started well: "He's Germany's new number ten," Stern magazine trumpeted in June 2010 about the Ruhr kid. Born to Turkish parents, the playmaker and his German-Tunisian teammate Sami Khedira did wonders at the South African World Cup, where Germany finished third, and was soon erected as a symbol of a multicultural Germany.

After the World Cup, Özil signed for Real Madrid, a springboard to the 2014 German triumph in Brazil, where he was paradoxically less attractive than in South Africa. His long hair has disappeared in favor of a wiser cut, the German lends his image to Adidas.

2018, the year of the turning point

But his career took a turn in May 2018: Özil and his Mannschaft teammate Ilkay Gündogan, also of Turkish origin, posed in London with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the middle of his re-election campaign.

The cliché is controversial, while Berlin accuses Ankara of repressive drift. The Turkish head of state responds by drawing a parallel between contemporary Germany and Nazism.

Shortly after, Germany, world champions, were eliminated in the group stage of the Russian World Cup, a humiliation. Özil becomes the scapegoat of the extreme right. Some German media are also overwhelming him.

"I have two hearts"

Dropped by the president of the German Football Association, Özil finally slammed the door of the Mannschaft in July, for "as long as I [feel] racism and disrespect towards me". "Erdogan is the current president of Turkey and I have to show respect to this person, whoever he is," he said. "I may have grown up in Germany, but my family history has its roots firmly planted in Turkey. I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish," he also said in 2018.

A year later, Özil chose Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his wedding witness when he married a former Miss Turkey, Amine Gülse. And even if he says the bottom of his thoughts, he is indignant at China's treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority. In response, state broadcaster CCTV deprogrammed an Arsenal match against Manchester City. The Gunners then distanced themselves from Özil, anxious "not to get involved in politics".


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  • 2014 World Cup