They had just spent loads on Isco and he is the current golden boy of Spanish football. They wanted to sign him to make sure Barca wouldn't and Ancelotti will have been under pressure to give him game-time. Sources close to the club actually said Di Maria is the player who would make way but Di Maria refused to leave whereas Ozil was willing to make a change. He has been one of the most influencial players at Madrid over the last3 years, played 50+ apps a season and the reaction of the Madrid fans and players says all you need to know abotu how highly they rate him.
Im not denying Ozil is a top player, Gerrez asked why would Madrid sell him and I think they sold him because they think Isco is a better option and I agree with them, he has more goals in him than Ozil.
Isco has scored 12 goals, 5 goals and 2 goals in his last 3 seasons respectively. Ozil has scored ~10 goals a season for the last 4 years and sources at Madrid where even quoting as saying they will miss his goals as well as his creativity. Ozil consistently chips in with a decent amount of goals from midfield. Your basing your opinion on Isco playing hsi first few games at Madrid and getting a few goals rather than on actual facts.
This is getting really boring! Don't give a **** why Madrid sold him. Still don't think that he is what Arsenal need. We'll see this season if he's got the enthusiasm and can make the transition. Let's move on.
What? My opinion that Isco has more goals in him is based on the fact that Isco scores more goals Ozil has scored 46 in 306 games at club level and Isco has 22 in 92 games.
Tbf, dave, it's a thread about comparing Ozil and Bale, and if people want to bang their heads together on the futile task of trying to change each others mind then let them do it. The rest of us don't have to read it if we're not interested.
Ozil scored 27 goals in 3 season for Madrid from midfield. He has a record of roughly 1 goal per 3 games at International level (ranging from youth through to full international). His past 4 seasons he has scored 11, 10, 7, 10 goals per season. Your stats are misleading in that Ozil scored only 1 goal in his first 55+ apps (between the ages of 17-18). After that he had a season where he scored 5 goals (at 19) the same as Isco at the same age (except Ozil also had far superior assist stats). Ozil then went on to score 11 goals in his next season (at the same age Isco has just scored 12 goals in a season), so again pretty much the same for goals at the same age (only again Ozil had more assists). Now we are yet to see if Isco can maintain that level. Ozil has since then scored ~10 goals a season. Taking two completely different ranges of appearances is not a good way to compare who has goals in them. Especially when Isco's apps are almost all for one team (where he has almsot identical scoring record to Ozil at Bremen, but less creativity), whereas your taking stats for Ozil ranging from the age of 16/17 to 24, covering spells at 3 different teams.