BERLIN: Days after the president of German football club, Bayern Munich said that footballer Mesut Ozil, who announced his retirement recently, had played a terrible game over the years, player's agent brushed aside his claim and termed it "pointless".
The president of the German football club Uli Hoeness had earlier slammed Ozil after his sudden retirement from the national team and said that he does not deserve a place in the national team.
Ozil's agent, Erkut Sogut, however, said that his statements have nothing to do with football.
"The comments of Mr Hoeness miss the point completely, as they have absolutely nothing to do with football. As Mesut said in his statement, he accepts reasonable and fair criticism of his football and deals with that as part of the job. However, Mr Hoeness cannot even provide any actual evidence to back up his foolish statements that are clearly exaggerated," Goal.com quoted Sogut, as saying.
"In this case, the stats are clear. Twenty-three goals, 40 assists - which is a German record - and five-time German player of the year - three of which come after 2014. He claims that Mesut has been a 'ghost' for years, but what 'ghost' wins all these awards and has this much success? Mesut created more chances in the 2018 World Cup per 90 minutes than any other player, but, of course, he singles him out for criticism," he added.
Last week, Ozil announced his retirement from the national team in the wake of the controversy surrounding his recent meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He was heavily criticised after he, along with his teammate, Ilkay Gundogan, who has Turkish ancestry, posed for a photograph with Erdogan at a charitable event in May.
Born to Turkish parents in Germany's Gelsenkirchen city, Ozil has earned 92 caps, scoring 23 goals since his debut in 2009. He also played a key role in Germany's triumph against Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. (ANI)