Arsenal star Mesut Özil stated that his three month injury last season actually worked out being a blessing in disguise.

Özil picked up a lengthy injury and only returned after the turn of the year.

“Of course I’ve had my ups and downs. At the start of the season it was very difficult to go from playing in a long tournament like the World Cup to being back at Arsenal so quickly. Then I got injured and, for the first time in my career, I was out for a long time,” Özil told the official Arsenal website.

“That was a backward step but if you look at it differently, maybe those three months did me good. My body was able to re-energise. Now I’m completely back and I think in general we can be really happy with our work this season.”

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Mesut Ozil

The 26-year-old was criticised early on in the season for not working hard enough and came under fire for being perceived as a lazy player.

Özil has covered more distance, scored more goals, provided more assists and improved his sprinting since returning from injury at the start of 2015 according to the official Premier League website.

The Arsenal playmaker was also found to be the second best performing attacking midfielder in Europe since the turn of the year by the CIES Football Observatory’s latest performance rankings.

The World Cup winner also one several personal awards in 2015 including the Vitality Player of the Month twice and the PFA Fans Player of the Month award for April.