One of the stars of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mesut Oezil, has expressed a preference to move to La Liga champions Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid and is said to be in advanced talks with the Catalan club.
The Werder Bremen midfielder has less than a year left to run on his contract and his club are seeking to cash in now rather than risk losing the player for nothing. Real are in talks with Werder Bremen over a 15 million Euro sale. However, Barca’s long pursuit of their primary summer target and former player Cesc Fabregas, now of Arsenal, appears to be doomed. As a result, they have now turned their attention to the Germany international in a bid to hijack any move from Real for the player. The 21-year-old will cost Barca much less than the price they would have to pay Arsenal for Fabregas, so this may be another factor in their decision to pursue the player’s signature.
A key motivation for Oezil’s decision is his admiration of Barcelona’s Argentine attacker Lionel Messi, which he said would be enough for him to make his decision as to which Spanish giants he would go to if given the choice. Meanwhile, Oezil visited Spain last week and is said to have spent some time in both Barcelona and Madrid with some family members.
International sensation
Oezil made his international debut in February 2009 against Norway. He scored his first senior goal for his country in his third appearance, a friendly against South Africa in September 2009. But it was at this summer’s World Cup tournament where he became a sensation, with his strong dribbling skills and eye for goal. He was instrumental in Germany’s opening game – a 4-0 thrashing of Australia – and followed that performance up with a 20-yard strike which was the only goal in the victory over Ghana. In the round of 16 match against England, he set up his team’s fourth goal for Thomas Mueller as the Germans triumphed 4-1. His low cross also provided the assist for Miroslav Klose’s second and Germany’s fourth goal against Argentina in the quarter-finals, ensuring Germany’s progression to the semi-finals. They fell short at this stage, with Spain beating them 1-0, but won the third-place play-off match against Uruguay 3-2.
Due to his outstanding run, Oezil was among the ten players shortlisted for the Golden Ball award given to the best player of the tournament, as decided by FIFA. The other nominees were David Villa, Xavi and Andreas Iniesta (all Spain), Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben (both Holland), Messi, Bastian Schweinstegier (Germany), Diego Forlan (Uruguay) and Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan. However, Oezil was to be disappointed as Forlan scooped the prestigious award. The German was also looked over for the Best Young Player Award, with his compatriot Mueller given the prize instead.
At club level, Oezil has not yet hit the same heights. He began his youth career by playing for clubs in Gelsenkirchen and for Rot-Weiss Essen. In 2005, he moved to FC Schalke 04’s youth academy and made his first-team debut the following year. Though he did not score a senior goal for Schalke in his 30 appearances, his displays were strong enough to convince Werder Bremen to pay 4.3 million Euros for his services in 2008. He has played 71 games for the Bundesliga team, scoring 13 goals and helping them to a third-place league finish in the 2009-10 season.
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