Mesut Ozil: Arsenal's most anticipated debut in the last 10 years?

Arsenal have signed a lot of players over the last 10 years, but none of them has caused as much of a ripple as Mesut Ozil’s £42 million move to The Emirates from Real Madrid early this month. The German playmaker will wear the No 11 shirt at Arsenal and becomes the marquee signing that fans have been clamouring for from, some would say, an overly careful Arsene Wenger. Below, we analyse Arsenal’s major transfers over the last 10 years, leaving you to decide whether Ozil’s debut is the most anticipated Arsenal debut since 2003/04. 2003/04: Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Jose Antonio Reyes were Arsenal’s major signings that year. However, Fabregas was just 16-years-old and Clichy 17. 19-year-old Reyes, who cost £10.5 (plus substantial add-ons), was their most high-profile buy but no one was as big a star as Ozil. [caption id=“attachment_1107179” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ozil with former club Madrid. Reuters[/caption] 2004/05: This is the year Robin van Persie joined from Fayenoord. The talent was there, but no one knew he would grow into such an explosive striker. Giovanni van Bronckhorst came in and so did Mathieu Flamini. The former was never a big star at Highbury and the latter too young. 2005/06: Young, raw and pacey Theo Walcott, striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Aleksandr Hleb were brought in. Hleb was a big name in Germany by then, and the Belorussian was the most expensive Arsenal buy in 2006 (£13 million). In 130 appearances, he scored ten times and made 15 assists before leaving for Barcelona. Good buy, but never the sort of exciting purchase Ozil is. 2006/07: Rosicky came into prominence with the Czech Republic team at Euro 2004, but his big move came three years later. It was in fairness, a big move, and he’s still an integral part of the club, but injuries have thwarted him from playing to his fullest. Julio Baptista (loan) also came in and so did William Gallas. 2007/08: Eduardo, Bacary Sagna, Lassana Diarra and Lukasz Fabianski joined the Gunners five years back and none have gone on to make it big — nor were they highly anticipated debuts. Eduardo’s clinical finishing was a joy to watch until his ankles lasted. He made a fine comeback from injury, but as they say, was never the same again. Many consider this as one of the unluckiest moves for Arsenal — in terms that they had unearthed a gem and never saw it truly shine. 2008/09: Andriy Arshavin, Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey signed for Arsenal and this bunch can probably give competition to the excitement that Ozil generates now. Arshavin was coming off his brilliance for Russia and Nasri was touted to be the next ‘insert-great-French-player-name-here’. Arshavin was brilliant initially before fizzling and Nasri was top class, before seeing greener grass in Manchester. 2009/10: Thomas Vermaelen. Great defender, hardly an Ozil though. 2010/11: Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny — Chamakh never lived up to the hype but Koscielny is now one of the first names on Arsenal’s teamsheet. 2011/12: Thierry Henry (return), Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker and Gervinho were the arrivals in 11/12. With Henry, there was great excitement because he is a legend at the club and was coming back. With Arteta, Arsenal knew what they were getting — not atrocious talent but the anchor they needed in midfield. Mertesacker is still in the side and Gervinho… well, he never quite got going. 2012/13: Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud — all clever buys, and one may even say Cazorla exceeded expectations. They filled stadiums, but it wasn’t as if they were running to buy their shirts at the mega-store. 2013/14: Mesut Ozil — now that’s one name which really gets (we’re guessing) your blood rushing. Brilliant move, great player and while not quite the one who could plug the leaks at Arsenal — at least one which shows intent from Wenger.