Football fans across the world were met with a shock after Mesut Ozil announced his retirement from international football on Sunday. The 29-year-old midfielder took to his social media pages to explain the motive behind his decision, citing unfair criticism and racism from top officials in German football as prime factors.
"I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose," the Arsenal midfielder famously asserted.
In wake of the event, Bayern Munich chief Uli Hoeness had a few words to say about Ozil's decision.
"I am glad that this scare is now over. He had been playing sh*t for years," he declared.
"He last won a tackle before the 2014 World Cup. And now he and his sh*tty performance hide beyond this picture.
This has since not gone down well with Dr Erkut Sogut, the agent of the 2014 World Cup winner, who only believes his client is being made a scapegoat by Hoeness' contradicting comments.
"The comments of Mr Hoeness miss the point completely, as they have absolutely nothing to do with football," Dr Sogut said in an exclusive interview with Goal.
"He is trying to divert attention away from the real issue, the issue of racism and discrimination in Germany, which is resurging once again within everyday German society.
"As Mesut said in his statement, he accepts reasonable and fair criticism of his football, and deals with that as part of the job.
"However, Mr Hoeness cannot even provide any actual evidence to back up his foolish statements that are clearly exaggerated. In this case, the stats are clear. Twenty-three goals, 40 assists - which is a German record - and five-time German player of the year - three of which come after 2014.
"He claims that Mesut has been a 'ghost' for years, but what 'ghost' wins all these awards and has this much success? Mesut created more chances in the 2018 World Cup per 90 minutes than any other player, but, of course, he singles him out for criticism," Dr Sogut continued.
"As the president of Bayern Munich is it not best to focus on the performance of his own players seeing as eight of the Germany team play for the club?
"If Mesut is such a bad player, what does this say about his opinion on Joachim Low, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho? These are three elite managers who praise Mesut as one of the best in his position.
"It is laughable that he thinks he is more qualified to judge footballing abilities than these people, with fabricated statistics.
"It is obvious that his comment about Mesut not making any tackles is completely made up and false. But, just so everyone knows, in both the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Euros, Mesut won over 65 per cent of duels per game, moreover he was the most important player in the games against France and Italy in 2016, again making a complete mockery of his ludicrous comments.
"The facts speak for themselves and anyway who is he to speak about Mesut in this way? These lies are cheap, stereotypical and baseless comments - made without any foundations - that allow hurtful news to spread.
"Mr Hoeness, we will not waste any more time or energy talking about a subject clearly you know nothing about. Something he does know about though, is the 28.5 million euros in tax he evaded, when he was forced to resign from his role at Bayern Munich and sentenced to prison for his criminal behaviour.
"What kind of person does this make him? When he committed this illegal and criminal act, he stole money away from the German society for his own selfish reasons.
"This money could've helped develop schools and hospitals, but instead went into his own greedy pockets. Not only is he a disgrace to yourself, but also and more importantly a shame to German football and the people of Germany.
