“I never read the whole press release and the reasons. Because, firstly, it was too long for me and secondly, I was disappointed at the moment because I didn’t actually hear it from him personally,” said Löw in the ZDF documentary “Mesut Özil – visiting friends”.

Löw called it a shame that Özil stayed away from the most recent meeting of the 2014 Rio World Champions. “Mesut now lives in Turkey, is less in Germany or extremely rare,” reported Löw and described Özil as “one of the best national players Germany has ever had.” The then DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff suspected that Özil wanted to draw a clear line in the sand and burn his bridges with Germany.

Altintop: “Nobody knows him”

The ZDF three-part series about Özil can be seen in the media library from March 20th, and the first episode will be shown on TV on March 31st (8:15 p.m.). According to the broadcaster, Özil has rejected interview requests for the documentary. There was also no response to dpa’s request.

“Mesut is simply hurt because he didn’t get the security of the country where he became world champion,” reported his long-time companion and confidant Hamit Altintop and made it clear: “Nobody knows him.”

Özil advisor comments on the letter of resignation

After stints at Rot-Weiß Essen, FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen, Özil developed into an exceptional footballer at Real Madrid at the latest. The Gelsenkirchen native became a symbol of a diverse (football) Germany. After the controversial photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the mood changed in 2018. The former hero finally became a controversial figure.

After the historic preliminary round exit at the 2018 World Cup, Özil announced his resignation from the national team in a three-part post and complained about racism. DFB officials always rejected the accusation. “It was clear to Mesut from the start: We don’t have to apologize for anything. We didn’t do anything wrong. I see the president almost every year,” reported his former advisor Erkut Sögüt and revealed about the resignation letter in English: “That was the way he wanted it.”

Bierhoff finds resignation “completely understandable”

Bierhoff called the resignation “completely understandable” in the documentary. “I just don’t think the kicking is good. I didn’t think he would find such harsh words. That he would hit the association like that, because of course you have to abstract between the association and individual people,” said the 57-year-old.