On his return from Arsenal’s pre-season tour, in which he had looked sharp and content, life seemed reasonably positive through the lens of Mesut Ozil. He got married in the summer and he enjoyed London, living among ordinary neighbours in a pleasantly leafy and upmarket road and able to go out to restaurants, cafes and shops as he pleased.



He did not live in an overly secluded way. If local kids saw him coming in or out of his house he had no problems stopping for a selfie and a smile. If there was a ring on the bell he would do normal things like bring in the bags from the supermarket delivery guy. His impressive car collection – unmistakably his with personalised plates – sat on the driveway, not hidden away from public view in a garage. It was all as relaxed as a footballer super-famous enough to have nearly 25 million Twitter followers could reasonably hope for.



One seemingly routine Thursday in July, a couple of days before Arsenal...