Andre Villas-Boas: ‘Gifted’ Mesut Ozil will make Arsenal even stronger

Andre Villas-Boas believes Arsenal have pulled off a “great last-minute coup” by breaking their transfer record to sign Mesut Ozil.

The Germany international signed a five-year contract with the Gunners after joining from Real Madrid on transfer deadline day in a £42.5m deal and could make his debut at Sunderland on Saturday.

And although the Tottenham boss admits Arsenal “paid heavily” to bring the 24-year-old to Emirates Stadium, he feels Spurs’ north London rivals will be as competitive as ever following his arrival.

“Real Madrid sold a player for €50m, a wonderful, gifted footballer and in the end Arsenal paid heavily for a player of that dimension,” said Villas-Boas. “It’s a €50m transfer for a No10 that nobody has any doubt over his ability.

“They have lots of players for that position also but they have become even stronger with Ozil. The fact that Real Madrid sold him to Arsenal for that price, we can’t say anything – we are happy with what we have and Real Madrid are happy.

“We are happy with what we have done in the transfer window, extremely happy. Arsenal did a great last-minute coup with Ozil but they will be as competitive as they were before.”

The Portuguese coach added: “All of us have done good business in the transfer window – Manchester City and us maybe a little bit more than Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. I think all of us have made big steps forward from the season before.”