Arsenal news: Cesc Fabregas has paid tribute to Mesut Ozil after his retirement (Image: GETTY)
Cesc Fabregas holds no grudges against Mesut Ozil after he announced his retirement from football. The former Arsenal captain has paid tribute to the German despite him blocking his return to the Gunners nine years ago.
Ozil announced his immediate retirement from football on Wednesday morning. The 34-year-old, who last played for Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey, said injuries had taken their toll and the time had come for him to hang up his boots.
He will be remembered as one of the most creative midfielders of his generation. Ozil formed a great partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid before a seven-and-a-half-year spell in north London.
Fabregas posted a message to Ozil on his Twitter account upon hearing the news of his retirement. The Spaniard wrote: "Thank you for making this beautiful game more special. Good luck for the future."
Fabregas clearly doesn't have a grudge with Ozil. That is despite the latter preventing him from making a move back to the Emirates in 2014.
Arsenal had a first-refusal option to re-sign Fabregas from Barcelona. He only had one club in his mind that he wanted to join.
However, Arsene Wenger opted against bringing Fabregas back because he already had Ozil in his position and didn't think there was space for both of them. Fabregas recently opened up on the situation which ultimately saw him join London rivals Chelsea instead.
He told the Kammy and Ben's Proper Football Podcast: "I really wanted to go back to the Premier League. In the contract when I signed for Barcelona, we said that, after I leave, Arsenal will have the first option. They had a week to respond.
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"So, obviously we approached Arsenal, we said, 'listen I'm leaving Barcelona and by law, you have a week to decide if you want to take me back or not'. For a week, I couldn't talk to anyone.
"We noticed Arsenal, Arsene, everyone, so after a week we called Arsene and he said he'd thought about it and he said they already had a lot of players in my position like Mesut Ozil, Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey.
"And he said to fit me in he would have to play someone out and this could create, you know... I think also he was a little bit hurt, by how I left and everything. I don't hold anything bad because it's their right, their decision and they could do what they wanted."
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