Often dubbed as the professor in the game of football, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made a huge mistake in his pre-match press conference against Sunderland where he claimed how happy he was to finally see Mesut Ozil’s name being mentioned in the final 30 shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award this season.
The only problem was that Ozil was left out of the final run-in by France Football’s governing authorities.
Premier League has 8 representatives (Aguero, Zlatan, Pogba, De Bruyne, Lloris, Vardy, Payet & Mahrez) in the final 30-man shortlist which did not include the Gunners wizard Ozil, who was named Arsenal’s Player of the Season after an incredible season where he managed 19 league assists.
Despite the snub, Wenger got his information wrong and went on an elaborative explanation of how Ozil’s nomination has come as welcome news to him and the club supporters. However, Wenger also lamented the players whose sole goal is to win this individual honor and not think about the team’s development.
Speaking about the Ballon d'Or nomination, Wenger said: “Certainly there is a big satisfaction for him and for us as well, but I am against it because I think it gets in the head of players.”
“We have seen many people only thinking about themselves because they are obsessed by Ballon d'Or and not by the team performance and I believe football is a collective sport and we live already in a world where everything is individualized,” the Frenchman added.
“We want to respect what football is about, first about the team effort. Of course, I encourage and congratulate the players who do well and I'm happy for that,” he continued.
Can Ozil win the Ballon d'Or one day?
Mesut Ozil is an exceptional footballer whose vision and ability to find a match-winning pass is second to none, however, we live in a day and age where goals are of absolute premium when it comes to judging a player’s season and the impact on his team’s performance.
Ozil at present lacks that quality in his play and going by the recent trend, I do not see him getting better at it anytime soon. Although he has found his goal scoring touch this season, getting 30-40 goals a season is not his cup of tea.
Despite the Ballon d'Or snub this season, Ozil will remain one of the best players in modern football but instead of focusing on winning the much-coveted award, Arsenal fans would hope that Ozil would manage to lead them to the elusive Premier League trophy which has deserted them for over 13 years now.
