German’s exit met by surprise and disappointment by former team-mates.
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Real Madrid’s players have lined up to a man to express both their surprise and disappointment at the recent departure of playmaker Mesut Ozil, according to reports in the Daily Mail, after he left the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday to join Premier League outfit Arsenal.
The talented German international moved to the north London club in the final hours of the summer transfer window for a fee of £42.5m, making the purchase a club-record transfer by the Gunners.
However, there is now outrage in the Spanish capital after it emerged that it was the Liga giants’ decision to allow the 24-year-old to move to the Emirates, with Ozil actually wanting to stay at the club and fight for his place in the first team this season under new Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti.
But with Real president Florentino Perez having splashed out a world-record 100m euro transfer fee in order to bring Tottenham Hotspur wide man Gareth Bale to the Spanish capital this summer, Ozil looked increasingly unlikely to feature in the first-team plans of Ancelotti.
And it is that surprise decision that has caused much disappointment with Madrid’s first-team players, with recent new signing Isco telling Marca: “To be honest it has surprised me, and more so after he said last week that he was going to stay.
“We all know Ozil, he has a lot of quality and he’s a player who is capable of changing a game.”
Meanwhile, Spain international Alvaro Arbeloa was quoted in AS as saying: “I’m a little bit surprised, it’s a shame, and it’s a big loss to the dressing room, on a footballing level and on a personal level too.
“He said goodbye to us on Sunday, but I thought he was joking. He’s very different, there’s no player like him in the world. He makes the difference on the pitch.
“He’ll have his reasons for moving. But we will keep looking forward, we have other great players. I understand it’s tough for the fans, they loved him. He is a phenomenon and got on well with everyone. It’s a real loss.”