Kieran Gibbs
Kieran Gibbs believes Arsenal’s club-record signing of Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil can take the club to another level.
Ozil, 24, completed a transfer-deadline
switch from Real Madrid, in what is understood to be a £43m deal, to
give manager Arsene Wenger the new top-level addition he has long
craved.
Many of Ozil’s teammates at Madrid were
stunned by his departure – the creative midfielder suddenly no longer
central in the plans of manager Carlo Ancelotti following the
world-record signing of Gareth Bale from Tottenham.
Wenger, though, made it clear Ozil would
be integral to the Gunners’ ambitions – and Gibbs believes his arrival
can help all of the players raise their own games this season in the
quest for a first trophy since 2005.
“It is a statement to what the club want to do and what the club want to achieve,” Gibbs said on Arsenal Player.
“It is something that everyone has been
waiting for so now we have a big signing to help push us to the next
level. He has got a clinical side to him and technically he is
world-class.
“He is going to create a lot of problems
for opposition we come up against and hopefully he can continue the
form that he had with Real Madrid.”
Signing Ozil proved to be Wenger’s
masterstroke in an otherwise rather flat transfer window, with the free
signings of Yaya Sanogo and Mathieu Flamini the only other additions
before a loan move for Palermo goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano was pushed
through on deadline day.
Midfielder Flamini made his second
Arsenal debut in a 1-0 league win over Tottenham before the
international break, having rejoined his former club after being
released by AC Milan.
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