Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has revealed that former Nigerian international, Austin Jay-Jay Ockoha, was his childhood idol while growing up.
Ozil made the disclosure during Monday’s Q&A session with his followers on Twitter.
Born in Germany to a Turkish family, Ozil revealed he only supported one Turkish club as a child, which was Fenerbahce.
Ozil is rumoured to join Fenerbahce in this window from Arsenal after been frozen out of the club.
Despite being out of favour at Arsenal, the former Germany international insists that he loves the North London club.
When asked if he has an only option of joining Arsenal rivals Tottenham, Ozil stated that “Its simple. I’ll retire.”
He currently wears the number 10 jersey for Arsenal – the same jersey Okocha wore for Fernabahce and the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Okocha spent two years with the Turkish giants after signing from Eintracht Frankfurt for about £1 million in 1996. He scored 34 goals in 62 games for Frankfurt.
PSG signed Okocha from Turkey for £14 million which was the record fee for an African player at that time. The former Super Eagles captain also played for Bolton Wanderers, Hull City and Qatar SC before his retirement in 2008.
He earned 73 caps for Nigeria and scored 14 goals.
