Arsenal news: Robert Pires says Mesut Ozil is the Dennis Bergkamp of the current team

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 19:  Mesut Ozil of Arsenal scores his third and his team's sixth goal of the game during the UEFA Champions League group A match between Arsenal FC and PFC Ludogorets Razgrad at the Emirates Stadium on October 19, 2016 in London, England.  (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Mesut Ozil has scored seven goals in all competitions for Arsenal so far this season

In a recent interview with Arsenal World, former Arsenal ‘invincible’ Robert Pires described Mesut Ozil as a maestro within the team very much like another Arsenal great Dennis Bergkamp. Arsene Wenger has always relied on playmakers in his team to get the work done and set a record for the club in 2013 when he signed the German midfielder for £42.5 million from Real Madrid.

The French manager has a number of star players to choose from nowadays with injury concerns at bay for the present, but it is surely Ozil who is his chief orchestrator after a change in role for Alexis Sanchez who has been deployed as a centre forward so far this season.

Unfortunately for the North London club, Ozil’s performance is not always consistent, and he does some of his best work in limited spells implying that Arsenal too can be inconsistent themselves. This season, however, has been different with both the talisman and the club getting off to a promising start.

The German World Cup winner has had a solid start to the campaign, and it is best exemplified by his solo effort against Ludogorets in the Champions League which just goes to show that he can score the occasional goal when he doesn’t restrict himself to creating them.

6 Apr 2002:  Dennis Bergkamp of Arsenal runs with the ball during the FA Barclaycard Premiership match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur played at Highbury, in London. Arsenal won the match 2-1. DIGITAL IMAGE. \ Mandatory Credit: Shaun Botterill/GettyImages
Dennis Bergkamp was the midfield genius when Arsenal was invincible in the early 2000s

Arsenal is at their best when they allow their game to flow through the German playmaker and Pires, who himself played alongside some of the best in his generation, is convinced it puts him in the same bracket as another Arsenal legend Bergkamp.

“Something has clicked. What’s happened in the head is like a click because he’s scored a lot of goals. This is a difference between the last season with Mesut Ozil and now because he’s thinking just for himself and sometimes when you are in front of the target it is very important to score a goal,” quipped the Frenchman.

Ozil has already scored seven goals in the 2016-17 season but will have to do much better if he is to get near Bergkamp’s career best at Arsenal of 22 goals during the 1997-98 season.

"Mesut Ozil has very good qualities, he can normally score a minimum of 12 goals during the Premier League so in my time the maestro was Dennis Bergkamp, and now it is Mesut Ozil. I love them both because they play very good football but they play for the team. Not for himself, they play for the team. This point is very important for the future and of course for Arsenal," Pires added.

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Video Courtesy – NLD Sports 2

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Edited by Staff Editor