Spanish La Liga: Will Ozil’s move to Real Madrid be beneficial for him?
Mesut Ozil emerged from the FIFA 2010 World Cup with a reputation of a next generation superstar. It is quite possible that he will be one of the best in world football in the next couple of years. However, this summer was built around his possible transfer to several titanic clubs in Europe.
Finally, the Mesut Ozil saga ended on 17th of August, 2010 when Real Madrid signed the German international for an undisclosed fee. This is finally the dream move that Ozil has been waiting for. Finally, he can play for a big European team where he can show his peers like Ronaldo and Kaka that he has everything it takes to become as good as them in the near future.
There is a downside to this though. Last season with Pelligrini, Madrid had a brilliant coach who managed to take them to a second placed finish in the Spanish football league. Real finished second best to their rivals Barcelona, who remarkably topped Real Madrid’s tally of 96 points with a total of 99 points. A fact that should be noted is that the 96 league points that Madrid earned in the 2009/2010 season were good enough to win the domestic title in any other European league season. Therefore, Madrid lost the league not because they were disappointing but because Barcelona was just too good to catch up eventually.
Ozil’s move to Real Madrid came through because of their playmaker Kaka got injured. Kaka’s knee problems have sidelined him for around four odd months. This means that Ozil will surely be in contention for a place in the starting line-up. Nevertheless, Real Madrid is branded by many football pundits as a graveyard for football careers. David Beckham’s move to Real Madrid from Manchester United in the summer transfer window of 2003 was seen by the English international as a new challenge for him. The result was quite disappointing, because during his time at Madrid, Beckham only won a single league title.
The same goes for Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who moved to Real Madrid from Manchester United as well. His case might have been different but the outcome was the same. In his four seasons at Madrid, Van Nistelrooy saw a dip in form and seldom started for Real Madrid. His tenure at the club was decorated with only two Spanish league titles.
In the summer of 2009, Ronaldo made his move from Manchester United to Real Madrid and his time at the club so far - be it only one season. But even Ronaldo’s superior from could not propel Madrid to their first league title in three years. His 80 million pound move from England to Spain was not glorified further by a triumph on the field in terms of success and trophies.
Ozil would have been wise to take heed from such examples at Madrid. He would have been smart to consider his future at Barcelona or at Manchester United, given that those clubs have a greater history of nurturing young talent and giving these youngsters an opportunity in the first team. Jose Mourinho, Madrid’s new man in-charge has a deluded past as far as giving chances and maturing young talent is concerned.
During his time at Chelsea, Mourinho’s team was built around experienced players like Lampard, John Terry, Drogba and Makelele. At Inter, Jose had well publicized troubles with the likes of Ricardo Quaresma and Mario Balotelli. He formed his Inter team around players such as Wesley Sneijder, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito. Mourinho’s lack of acumen when it comes to youngsters is surprising and more importantly it is a menacing sign of things to come as far as the likes of Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil are concerned.
Decisions to opt for clubs like Real Madrid by players like Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil do surprise football fans. One has to remember that confident footballers are wired to think in a certain way. Ozil and Khedira might be off the view that they are good enough to make it at Real Madrid but they are coming off the back of a brilliant FIFA World Cup with Germany in South Africa.
Does this mean that their naive confidence might come back to haunt them in the latter part of their career? Maybe, but all his fans can do now is to wait for 28th of August, 2010. That is when the show kicks off at Real Madrid, where Ozil will be part of the script.
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