Arsene Wenger: Mesut Özil deal too good to turn down for Arsenal

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal could not pass up the chance to sign Mesut Özil this summer, despite conceding the Gunners were not short of creative midfielders.

The north London club shattered their transfer record to land the 24-year-old in a £42.5m deal from Real Madrid on transfer deadline day following failed bids for Luis Suárez and Yohan Cabaye.

With the likes of Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky already at his disposal, the Frenchman did not feel Arsenal were in dying need of another playmaker.

But the Gunners boss revealed that it would have been foolish not to close the deal when it became clear that Real Madrid were willing to offload the Germany international.

“I think we are in a world of competition and you look first at the quality,” Wenger said. “When you have high expectation levels, you can never turn down a world-class player.

“I agree that there was no special emptiness there [in that position], but the quality of the player was so big that it was as well difficult to say no.”

Wenger also praised Özil for the speed at which he appears to have adapted to life at Arsenal after he scored his first goal for the club in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Napoli in a sparkling display.

“Yes [I’m surprised by how quickly he’s settled in] but you never know how much time that takes – you can never predict that,” said Wenger, whose side travel to West Bromwich Albion on Sunday looking to make it six straight wins in the Premier League.

“But I thought, when I saw him in training, that it could be fairly quick. He has good physical qualities and I think that helps him as well.”