Images of footballers at the gym regularly appear on social media. However, some waited until the end of their career to radically transform their body.
We have often seen significant differences in size between football players. The qualities required are already different depending on the positions, and we do not ask the same physical dispositions from a stopper defender like Rüdiger and from an explosive ally like Coman or Dembélé. In equivalent positions, we also regularly see very different profiles. And the playmaker is often the one who lets players with varied athletic qualities express themselves. In recent years, we have seen real physical phenomena like Hulk compete in this position against the likes of Javier Pastore and Lionel Messi.
Among the rather frail-looking number 10s who mattered in the 2010s, we include Mesut Özil. The German lit up the pitch and revealed himself to the world during the 2010 World Cup, before settling into the heart of Real Madrid’s game. During the 2014 World Cup, he was the playing master of the world champion Mannschaft. After spending several seasons in the heyday of Arsenal, Özil finished his career in Turkey, at Basaksehir. Often during his career, the German midfielder’s physique played tricks on him. Regularly injured, he only played seven matches during his last season in Turkey before hanging up his boots last season.
The former Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder seems in recent months to have swapped the football fields for the training room. To the point that the physical transformation of the man who was known for having an ultra-light build seems impressive. In photos published on social networks, we notice that Mesut Özil has gained several kilos of muscle.
This physical transformation impressed some of his former opponents and teammates. Thus, the rough defender of Real Madrid Antonio Rüdiger described the German as “beast”, just like his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. The striker with five golden balls today in Saudi Arabia is a gym enthusiast. He congratulated Özil in a comment on Instagram: “Bro, not bad”.