Arsene Wenger believes Mesut Ozil’s signing from Real Madrid is comparable to Dennis Bergkamp’s signing in 1995.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has compared the club’s record signing Mesut Ozil to the Gunners’ groundbreaking move for Dennis Bergkamp.
The Dutch forward joined Arsenal in 1995, a year before Wenger arrived in North London from AS Monaco.
Bergkamp’s signing from Inter Milan was seen as a seminal moment and led to a sustained period of success for the club.
Ozil, who arrived from Real Madrid on transfer deadline day, cost a stunning £43.4m and Wenger says the Germany international’s arrival is comparable to that of the Bergkamp.
“It is comparable because they are similar players in the same department and they are big names who come from big teams,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.
“You must say as well that Ozil was not perceived as being a failure at Real Madrid, he was perceived by the whole world as being a huge success at Real Madrid so of course the noise made by a signature like that is big.”
Wenger was heavily criticised earlier in the summer for his reluctance to spend money, despite boasts in June that club would splash out on new additions this summer.
But the boss feels Arsenal’s successful move for Ozil demonstrates the club’s ambition.
“They were questioning my desire to spend money, maybe the ambition as well because today the ambition is linked with the amount of money you spend,” he said.
“We are very ambitious, we went through a few years where we had less resources and there is no shame to say that because we have built a new stadium. Now we are back with the ambition as big as everybody else, if not bigger.”
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