When Mario Gotze's €37 million move from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich was confirmed last April, the then 20-year-old was the most expensive German ever. He held the title for just a few months. At the end of the summer, Mesut Ozil had smashed it, having swapped Real Madrid for Arsenal for €50m.
Back in September there was no doubt whom the superior player was: Gotze was injured and on the fringes of Pep Guardiola's team, while Ozil had made a flying start to life in the Premier League.
He had set up a goal just 11 minutes into his debut against Sunderland and backed it up shortly afterwards with a spectacular goal against Napoli. Things soon went awry though. Even before a shoulder injury ruled him out of a sizeable chunk of Arsenal's festive fixtures, the steady stream of assists and goals had dried up.
It was strikingly similar to his form at Madrid: all too often, he could provide some great moments for the highlights reel, but drifted in and out of matches, with his body language suggesting he was uninterested.
Ozil's shy nature and sometimes casual play has always made him a target for critics and so it has proved in London. In the last two months he has made only two assists and no goals, and press reviews of his Premier League career have been mixed at best.
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