Arsenal star Mesut Ozil found his name mentioned alongside the Ballon d’Or elite.
Just last year Arsene Wenger said he believes Arsenal superstar Mesut Ozil can go onto win the Ballon d’Or one day, but there are a handful of those who think he is ready now.
The German’s name cropped up in the voting, and not just in Cristiano Ronaldo’s nomination.
Overall winner and Portugal captain Ronaldo snubbed rival Lionel Messi to vote for Falcao as number one, new teammate Gareth Bale as number two, and Mesut Ozil in third.
While the voting was dominated by Ronaldo, Ribery, and to a lesser extent Messi, Ibrahimovic, Arsenal star Mesut Ozil did find himself with a vote for number one.
It came from Turkey captain Arda Turan, of Atletico Madrid, teammate of striker Diego Costa, strongly linked with an Arsenal move.
Turan voted Ozil first, Ronaldo second and Messi third. The votes were replicated by his Turkey manager Fatih Terim, and they were the only pair to select the £42.4 million man in first place.
Ozil is of Turkish ancestry but plays for Germany, the country of his birth. There was no such loyalty from his national team captain Phillip Lahm – who voted for Bayern teammate Franck Ribery instead, followed by Ronaldo then Messi.
There were some second placed picks for Ozil, from representatives of Kuwait, Singapore, the Philippines, and Palestine.
image: © azuaje
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