5. Mesut Özil
One of the greatest midfielders in the world joined Arsenal in September for a record £42.5m fee. With Tottenham selling Bale and Arsenal signing Özil, it was the start of something very special. He won the FA Cup in his first season at the Emirates and later went on to lift the World Cup trophy in Brazil. I don’t think many Arsenal or in fact general football fans could believe their eyes when Arsenal signed Mesut Özil, the greatest ‘number 10’ in the world. In his first season, the German went on score 7 goals, make 91 chances and get 11 assists in just 26 appearances, yet the English media label him a ‘flop’, he is anything but that. He also had an average passing accuracy of 88% and a shot accuracy of 75%. Despite missing penalties against Marseille and Bayern Munich respectively, the German picked himself up and went again. He ran 15 kilometres in 8 World Cup appearances, but often gets accused of being lazy and unfazed by his surroundings. In my personal opinion, the English media have been awfully harsh on him in his first season. It’s his first season in his career where he hasn’t had a winter break through the Christmas period, he has adapted to the physical attributes the Premier League requires, and he hasn’t been used to not having a world class striker in front of him, he also had better first-season stats than David Silva and Juan Mata. I think once he has got a pre-season under his belt, he will be able to pull the strings with Alexis Sánchez and Theo Walcott running in behind, as well as his physical game will have improved drastically. The only doubt I have is whether he can stay fit for a longer duration of the season, only injuries can halt his chances this season?