Mesut Ozil’s father has insisted his son would continue playing football for Germany if his advisers had protected him more off the field.
The former Arsenal star, who has made headlines in recent months for his impressive physical transformation, hung up his boots in March last year at the age of 34.
Many of his former international teammates are part of Julian Nagelsmann’s squad looking to secure European Championship glory on home soil this summer, with Germany facing Denmark on Saturday for a place in the quarter-finals.
During his international career, Ozil was often associated with fellow German international of Turkish descent Ilkay Gundogan, and the pair came under intense scrutiny in 2018 after they posed for a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ozil would retire from international football shortly after the incident, citing negative interactions with Reinhard Grindel, then president of the German Football Association.
Meanwhile, despite the fallout from the incident, Ilkay Gundogan remains a pillar of the national team, a position Mustafa believes his son would have coached with better guidance.
“If Mesut had been better protected, he would certainly still be at this European Championship. And with heart and soul,” Özil told Sport Bild, via the Daily Mail.
Ozil’s father had initially been his son’s coach, before Mesut opted to switch to Erkut Sogut in 2013.
To this day, the couple reportedly has no real contact with each other.
In Mustafa’s view, Sogut is to blame for his son’s controversial decisions which he believes ultimately led to Ozil’s decline on the pitch and his subsequent retirement from football.
“Mesut has a big heart. You can take a kebab out of his hand; he wouldn’t say anything,” Mustafa continued.
“[He] “He felt most comfortable when he was on the field in front of 50,000, 60,000 or more spectators and could play without worries.”
