Mesut Ozil is recommending his Germany teammates move to the Premier League, saying he only has “good experiences” of playing in England with Arsenal.
Ozil is one of relatively few German stars to have spent most of his career outside the Bundesliga. After joining Real Madrid when he was 21, he then moved to the Gunners in 2013, and led the Premier League in assists last season with 19 after initially struggling to adjust to English football.
The 27-year-old said he is recommending the Premier League to his teammates at the European Championship.
“Definitively. It was always my goal to prove myself at the big clubs abroad. And I only have positive things to say about Premier League if somebody wants to move abroad,” Ozil told Sports Bild.
“The league is very interesting, very balanced: The best example being Leicester winning the title. It’s just a lot of fun to play football in England. Indeed, it’s extremely exhausting, but you can relish it.
“If a national team player asks me what it’s like in England, I reply: ‘If you have the opportunity, do it!’ If I were to make the decision to go abroad again, I would definitely do it just like I did it.”
Ozil has another two years left on his Arsenal contract, and the club is eager to tie him down to a long-term extension after the Euros are over.
With a new TV deal kicking in for next season, English clubs will have even more money to spend on top stars, meaning the influx of foreign players is only likely to grow.
And Ozil said some of the other Germany players are already asking him about life in England.
“Occasionally. Questions like ‘what’s it like at Arsenal?’, ‘what distinguishes the Premier League?’, and ‘how’s the dealings with media and public?’ are asked. And I can only tell them of my good experiences,” he said.
Ozil acknowledged that the Bundesliga could struggle to keep hold of its top stars in the future, but that the German national team would only benefit from having more players move to other leagues.
“In the end, the DFB [German football federation] benefits from the international experience of its players. Thus I don’t have any worries if more players move abroad,” he said.
“German talents have an outstanding reputation, and thus they get into the focus of foreign clubs soon. But it’s true. It will get more difficult for the smaller clubs to keep national team players, especially because of all the TV millions in England. On top of that Premier League is just very interesting and attractive.”
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