It's Official: Good Luck In London, Mesut
Mesut on the day he arrived
Mesut has signed for Arsenal FC - he's no longer on our roster. The official announcements aren't QUITE in - but that's a formality..
Mesut grew up part of the way with us. He was already very good when he came, but he only improved. He became the player who creates the greatest number of chances in Europe and in the least amount of time (every 21 minutes) and has lead the assists charts for three years in Europe. He was a fan-favourite - and was followed around the city on Wednesdays by fans calling out: "Please don't go!"
He really, really, really loved Madrid, it showed in everything he ever said. He adored the club and was brimming with pride to play for us - his face would take on a bashful glow whenever he talked about the club. So I think German press rumour (and Marca's version of events) that he REALLY didn't want to leave are probably true. So it's nothing personal against us. He was almost certainly told to leave. And he said recently he loves and appreciates his fans.
Mesut, in his three years at Real Madrid, scored or assisted 108 goals in 157 appearances in all competitions - an outstanding set of numbers.
He won the Copa del Rey, The Super-Cup and a record-breaking league and helped seal that with a very important moment:
He and Cristiano Ronaldo formed La Liga's most deadly pair of goals-to-assists in this century, and managed to do that after only 3 seasons together.
And he's now a record-holder - our most expensive sale of all time.
Riquelme will leave us with a final quote: "Özil? His only problem is that he has too much class."
What I'll miss most of all - his assists for Ronaldo in the clasicos, his talent for scoring against Atleti and his bromancing.
Bye bye Sweetheart! Good luck in London. And you can take that monogrammed baseball cap you stole from Sergio Ramos with you - he won't mind ;)
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