Mesut Ozil: Men 'made threats to kill' Arsenal midfielder Published duration 4 February

image copyright Getty Images image caption The Arsenal midfielder's security guard told a court two men threatened to kill the footballer

Two men said they would kill Arsenal star Mesut Ozil as they threatened his security guards, a court has heard.

Salaman Ekinci and Ferhat Ercun, both 27, deny behaving in a threatening or abusive manner outside the north London home of the Premier League midfielder.

The guards told Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court they were hired after the footballer was involved in an unrelated attack weeks earlier.

The defendants claimed the guards had attacked them.

Through a Turkish interpreter, security guard Kemil Sezer said he first saw two men at around 19:30 BST on 8 August who then returned some three hours later when it was dark.

He said they swore in Turkish, insulting them and the footballer's mother.

Mr Sezer told the court the defendants said they were "going to come back in five minutes and if security don't go from here, we're going to kill Mesut Ozil and kill you".

He said he and another security guard "got angry because Mesut Ozil, about two to three weeks prior, was attacked and we feared that the same thing would happen".

Ozil and another Arsenal player Sead Kolasinac had been ambushed by moped muggers who tried to steal their £200,000 watches two weeks previously.

When the defendants returned to Ozil's address a third time the guards detained them and called the police, jurors heard.

Mr Ekinci and Mr Ercun, both of Tottenham, north London, deny one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Ozil, 31, who won the 2014 World Cup with Germany, is of Turkish heritage and was not at the hearing.