![\"Mesut](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/129082484_gettyimages-451523502-696x392.jpg\" "\\"Mesut")
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Former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil has retired from football at the age of 34.<\/p>\n
Ozil won nine trophies during his club career including four FA Cups and the Spanish La Liga title in 2012.<\/p>\n
He also won 92 caps for Germany and was part of the team that lifted the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt has been an amazing journey filled with unforgettable moments and emotions,\u201d Ozil said in a statement on\u00a0social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege to be a professional football player for almost 17 years now and I feel incredibly thankful for the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in recent weeks and months, having also suffered some injuries, it\u2019s become more and more clear that it\u2019s time to leave the big stage of football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ozil began his career at Schalke and Werder Bremen before moving to Real Madrid in the summer of 2010, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.<\/p>\n
He joined Arsenal for a\u00a0then club record fee of \u00a342.4m\u00a0in September 2013, winning back-to-back FA Cups in his first two seasons before being named player of the season in his third, and then winning the cup again in 2017.<\/p>\n
The playmaker became the highest-paid player in the club\u2019s history in January 2018, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal on about \u00a3350,000 a week before tax, but fell out of favour under new Arsenal boss Unai Emery.<\/p>\n
READ ALSO<\/strong><\/p>\n After Emery\u2019s dismissal in December 2019, Ozil returned to the side under interim boss Freddie Ljungberg and kept his place under Mikel Arteta before the coronavirus pandemic forced a three-month suspension of the top flight in March 2020.<\/p>\n Ozil did not play for the club when football resumed in June, although he would claim a fourth FA Cup winners\u2019 medal when the Gunners beat Chelsea in the 2020 final.<\/p>\n He\u00a0joined Fenerbahce on a free transfer\u00a0in January 2021 but had his contract cancelled by mutual consent in July 2022 when he\u00a0joined Istanbul Basaksehir,\u00a0where injuries limited him to just eight appearances.<\/p>\n Ozil could have played for Germany or Turkey at international level but chose to play for the country of his birth.<\/p>\n He was named man of the match as Germany Under-21s beat England in the European U21 Championship final in June 2009, having already made his debut for the senior side aged 20 earlier that year.<\/p>\n Ozil was named Germany player of the year five times and was part of the side that reached the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, as well as winning the 2014 World Cup.<\/p>\n However, he\u00a0retired from international football in 2018,\u00a0citing the \u201cracism and disrespect\u201d he faced in Germany over his Turkish roots after being criticised for being photographed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Mesut](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/_129082489_gettyimages-452120864.jpg\")