Mesut Ozil denounces Germany and finds home at Arsenal

Mesut Ozil's retirement from international football was quite heartbreaking, to say the least. The midfielder who has been one of Die Mannschaft's best players over the last decade decided to call it a day due to the 'racism and disrespect' he has faced owing to his Turkish roots.

The vitriol stemmed from Germany's unexpected early exit from the World Cup. On top of that, the fact that Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan, another German player with Turkish roots, posed with Turkish president Erdogan did not go down well with the German fans.

As a result, the former Real Madrid midfielder was jeered by German supporters even during the World Cup warm-up games.

People from various quarters have come out to offer support for Mesut Ozil and have unified in a quest to quell racism in football. The incident has triggered an emotional debate all across the globe.

Ozil was quite open in criticizing the German FA president and his inconsistency in dealing with the situation. Grindel, Ozil says, was disgruntled after he wasn't allowed to attend a meeting involving Mesut Ozil, Ilkay Gundogan and German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Grindel would initially ask Ozil to concentrate on football before going public and insisting that Ozil shells out a statement and state his commitment to German football, following Germany's unceremonious exit from the World Cup.

Ozil said,

"Whilst I attempted to explain my heritage, ancestry and therefore reasoning behind the photo, he was far more interested in speaking about his own political views and belittling my opinion."

This is by no means a first in football. Recently, Romelu Lukaku had come to the fore in his Players Tribune article to say that he is called 'the Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku' when he plays well and 'the Belgian striker of Congolese descent' when he doesn't perform up to the standards.

It's quite a bad week for football from a political standpoint and several issues that were brushed under the carpet are not slowly creeping out into the meadows for all to see.

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Unai Emery has ensured that Mesut Ozil's despondent streak comes to a close as he extended his warm support for his side's premium star.

Speaking to the reporters in Singapore ahead of Arsenal's match against Atletico Madrid in the pre-season International Champions Cup, the former PSG manager said,

"It's a personal decision [which] I respect."

"We are like his home. We are like his family ... We are going to help him to feel good,"

Emery has just the right words for his midfielder who sports downcast eyes in the light of the recent events and has reassured the player and offered the world a glimmer of hope and empathy right when it seemed to be lacking.

Mesut Ozil and Unai Emery snapped during one of Arsenal Pre-Season Training Sessions

With his international career now behind him, it is time for Mesut Ozil to focus on buoying this promising and fresh-look Arsenal side back to the top.

Germany possibly knows about the quality of the playmaker more than even Arsene Wenger himself did and if Ozil is to recreate the sort of form that made him the hottest property in world football a few years back, he needs to be in an environment where malicious blame games do not emerge every time a player has a bad outing.

In Unai Emery, he has a trusting manager and being one of the senior and well-respected members of the squad, he will have no dearth of support from his Gunner peers.

It's time the German FA's top brass took a long hard look at themselves and maybe even take a leaf out of Unai Emery's books and get themselves up to speed. I mean, it is the 21st century after all.