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Natural born footballer Can't view images, [click here] [Manage Preferences] [HOME] | [NEWS] | [FIXTURES & RESULTS] | [TICKETS & MEMBERSHIP] ARSENAL OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP NEWSLETTER... NATURAL BORN FOOTBALLER Mesut Ozil’s magical touch and stunning ability to locate team-mates with his peerless passing marks him out as one of the most naturally gifted footballers to have ever graced the Premier League. And the German has revealed that, rather than intensive organised drills and coaching sessions within a formal structure, his talent is very much ‘from the streets’. “I was a football freak,” says the player with 16 Premier League assists this season, just four away from the all-time record held by Thierry Henry, “I loved it. I would go to school, play football and then play for a club afterwards. I’d finish school at 1pm and got to my club at 5pm. I filled that time by playing football with my friends. Then I’d go to training for another two hours or so. I’d be playing for five hours a day. In summer it would get dark a lot later. I’d look out, see my friends playing in the ‘monkey cage’ and join them. I just played football almost all day.” As we’ve seen, Mesut’s effortless control isn’t just confined to conventional football, on the streets he learnt a trick or two and he’s become famous for his keepie uppies with chewing gum too: “Yeah, not only with chewing gum or tennis balls, sometimes with basketballs or medicine balls too – even ones that are 5kg, though that is very difficult. Sometimes on the pitch if the game has finished and I see some tape on the floor, I’ll take it and play with that too. Mesut’s childhood obsession with the beautiful game even caused concern at one point, with worries his relentless participation could affect his chances of playing professionally. “It got to the stage where my dad spoke to my coach at Rot-Weiss Essen and said, ‘he can’t play, he’s tired and you can see that on the pitch because yesterday he spent 10 hours playing football with his mates’. That’s just how it was for me. Football was all there was for me. Maybe on the day before a game, I would try not to play until 11pm but I just wanted to do what I enjoyed. Football was, and still is my life.” [Arsenal Player] [Fans’ choice: The best of Iwobi] [Editor’s pick: Marc Overmars exclusive] [On this day Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool] EMIRATES HOSTS FA YOUTH CUP SEMI-FINAL [NOW AVAILABLE ON TICKET EXCHANGE 30TH JAN 2016 - EMIRATES STADIUM - FIND YOUR MATCH] Watch Arsenal take on Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup semi-final second leg, LIVE on Arsenal.com this Monday, April 4. [FIND OUT MORE] MEMBERSHIP REWARDS Win tickets As a Arsenal Member you have the opportunity to Win Tickets at Emirates Stadium for the 2015/16 we have 5 pairs of tickets to give away for Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Aston Villa. [CLICK HERE] CLUB OFFERS... FREE NAME AND NUMBER For a limited time only you can have your name and number printed for free on any of our 2015/16 Away shirts when you buy them from an official Arsenal store, or online. [CLICK HERE] Explore behind the scenes BEFORE KICK-OFF Experience the build up to kick-off with a behind the scenes matchday stadium tour. Available now for Arsenal v West Brom [CLICK HERE] ARSENAL APP Have Arsenal close at hand with the official Arsenal App - now available on Android and iOS devices. [FIND OUT MORE] To ensure your Arsenal emails get to you, please add [arsenal@mailings.arsenal.co.uk] to your address book. Please [click here] to manage your email preferences or unsubscribe.