Seven years ago, in the summer, 21-year-old Mesut Ozil was enjoying the stars, and after playing with Thomas Muller at the World Cup, he not only got Wenger's phone number, recommended to Ferguson by Rooney, but also received invitations to visit Barcelona and Real Madrid – yes, he could pick the next top platform for himself.
Incidentally, Ozil's 2009–10 statistics are also phenomenal: three fronts, 10 goals and 29 assists in 46 games, averaging one goal per 97 minutes; Bundesliga, 9 goals and 17 assists in 31 games, in addition to dominating the assists list, second only to Dzeko (22 goals and 10 assists) and Kiesling (21 goals and 7 assists) in the participation list.
However, compared to the ultra-VIP treatment offered by Mourinho and Real Madrid, Ozil was snubbed in Catalonia: no trophy exhibition, no hospitality, and no Guardiola. Even if the agent keeps playing the round, "Pep is still on vacation, Pep has been on vacation", the Germans have already made a choice in their hearts.
In the end, Ozil, who appreciates Barça's philosophy of football, chose to sign with Real Madrid, and in the upcoming autobiography "My Life: Aiming for Greatness", the German midfielder recalled: "Due to Guardiola's negligence on me, I did not transfer to Barcelona, of course, Mourinho's enthusiasm is also an important reason, he has been very enthusiastic, caring, trying to let me join the team".
On 17 August 2010, Ozil's transfer to the soap opera settled, and Real Madrid paid 15 million euros to buy the German midfielder from Werder Bremen, which was three times the value of the german midfielder when he joined Bremen from Schalke 04 in January 2008. Ozil's buying and selling has brought a lot of benefits to Bremen, but now it seems that this transfer also marks the end of Bremen's glorious era. In other words, it was also a harbinger of the end of the "Shaf Dynasty".
In the 2009-10 season before Ozil's departure, even after saying goodbye to Miku, Ismail, Elton, Kraszniki, Diego and Klose, Bremen still had a squad that could be at the forefront of the Bundesliga: Tim Weizer, Marin, Flynns, Nardo, Mertesack, Pizarro, Aron Hont, Fritz, Hugo Almeida, Borrowski, Bagfred and Ozil. Although it did not win any championships, the team has completely emerged from the haze of 10th place in the previous season, not only finishing 3rd in the league, reaching the round of 16 in the Europa League, but also reaching the final of the German Cup.
At the time, Marco Marlin, who was five months younger than Ozil, also showed an enviable talent, contributing 4 goals and 14 assists in 32 league games, ranking third in the assists list behind Ozil and Misimovic. However, like the later Bremen, such beauty and ideals were fleeting, and Marin soon entered the fast track of the downturn.
After sending Ozil away in the summer of 2010, Alofs and Schaaf bought Wesley and Arnautovic for 7.5 million euros and 6.2 million euros, but unfortunately the two players did not play as expected and eventually suffered a discounted sale. Since the 2010-11 season, Bremen has been trapped by financial and personnel influences, and has been hovering around 10th place, and after the departures of Arlos and Schaff, the team has also completely bid farewell to its former glory. In the last six seasons, Bremen have been ranked 13th, 9th, 14th, 12th, 10th and 13th respectively.
In contrast to the 2009–10 season, only three players were still in bremen's squad: Bagfred, 28, Fritz, 36, and Claudio Pizarro, 38.
So far this season, Bremen has had eight ups and downs – just three rounds into the season, head coach Scripnik was overshadowed by a losing streak, and second-team coach Alexander Nori, who has a German and Iranian background, took over. Although Nyaburi, who joined from Arsenal, is in good shape, brushing 7 goals and 1 assist in the first half, Bremen's ranking has been hovering around 15. It wasn't until two months ago that bremen, who beat Mainz 2-0 away from home, was 3rd from the bottom in form.
In the last two months, this elusive team has played a good record of 7 wins and 2 draws, and has jumped from 16th to 8th with a wave of 9 unbeaten games. With five rounds of the league remaining, they are seven points higher than the relegation zone and the situation is more stable. However, if they are again outside the 10th place this season, it will be the fifth consecutive season they have encountered such embarrassment. Looking back at Bremen's top flight history, the last time this happened was in the 1970s, when Bremen fell into the Bundesliga for the first time in 1980-81 after failing to finish in the top 10 for 11 consecutive seasons...