Mesut Oezil: Real Madrid's new No. 10

I will be very honest. Last summer when German internationals Mesut Oezil and Sami Khedira left the Bundesliga to join Spanish giants Real Madrid I didn't believe that they would directly be able to make an impact with the Los Blancos under the new high profile manager Jose Mourinho. They have both positively surprised me.

Especially Oezil has grown unbelievably in stature over the last season. A year back I had my doubts if the move to Real Madrid is the right one at such a young age. I had written a blog entry under the title
Can Oezil make it at Real Madrid? at the time.

After year one I can say, he has not only made it, he's on the way to become one of the best players in the world. Now Oezil has the honour of wearing the legendary number 10 at Real Madrid.

Defensive midfielder Lassana Diarra was a misfit in such an iconic number which at Real Madrid has been worn by players like Ferenc Puskás (Hungary), Günter Netzer (West Germany), Michael Laudrup (Denmark), Clarence Seedorf (Netherlands), Figo (Portugal), Robinho (Brazil) and Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).

Oezil moves from the No. 23 jersey which he wore in season one, a number which has been worn by David Beckham and too by Wesley Sneijder in his first season at the club, so good company.