Angelito wrote:Cesc blew his Arsenal legacy away. Not that it matters to him anyway. But when we look back at this period 20 years from today, we'll place Rosicky at a higher pedestal than Cesc despite Rozza's injury-ridden career here and Cesc's glorious run during the transition era.
Also, look at it - Ozil will forever go down as one of our Icons. He signed for us in his peak. His signing ended our trophy drought. He blew the world away in a FA Cup final. If we win the League with this band, Ozil will probably be the first of the new breed of future Arsenal legends. That's something Cesc could have been. In fact, if Cesc had stayed and won the FA Cup in 13/14, he'd be placed at par with Vieira/Pires at the very least. Only Henry, Adams, and Berggy would be higher. A League title and he'd be there too.
Ozil, in particular, is a League title away from being a Arsenal legend. It's not because of his Bergkamp-esque performances, but because of how his arrival coincided with our renaissance.
Considering Cesc and van Persie were here for so long, it's a shame they chose the path they did. As I've always said, van Persie had to do it because he was nearing the end of his career, but for Cesc - he left everything for Barcelona and ended up realizing that he's still not good enough for them. Consequently, he had to trade everything for Chelsea.
Alexis, Ozil, Ramsey, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Cazorla, Rosicky, Walcott, Monreal - will all be remembered as Arsenal icons over the two best players we've had since Henry left and before the arrival of Ozil.
It's so sad that one of the greatest seasons by any player anywhere in the world - van Persie in 11/12 - will now only be a footnote in our history.
Saying Ozil is a league title away from being an Arsenal legend is a bit far - such praise should be reserved for the very select few like Henry, Bergkamp, Adams and Wright. These are guys who won an abundance of trophies with us and gave us huge parts of their career. I agree about Ozil being fondly remembered for years because of what his transfer meant to us but I think if he's going to be uttered in the same breath as other Arsenal legends he has to do more than win one league title and two FA Cups - we're talking hundreds more appearances and a number of seasons playing brilliantly. Not saying he can't do that but we're far from that at the moment.