JAMIE CARRAGHER believes it is too premature to compare Mesut Ozil to Dennis Bergkamp.
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| Mesut Ozil has been impressive for Arsenal this season |
Ozil has been in mesmerising form this term for the Gunners, supplying 16 assists in the Premier League.
Bergkamp meanwhile attained legendary status during his illustrious spell with the north London outfit.
But Carragher doesn't think Ozil is on the same level yet as the Dutch legend.
"As it stands, though, it is nonsense to use statistics to try to compare Ozil and Bergkamp," Carragher told the Daily Mail.
"The reason is this: Bergkamp is immortalised in bronze outside the Emirates Stadium because, aside from all the medals he won, he helped bring fantasy football to north London.
"His style had substance. Bergkamp was the inspirational figure in Arsene Wenger's first Double-winning squad and his performances saw him named PFA Player of the Year in 1998.
"We remember him for how good he was, not that he created 11 goals in that campaign. He is also revered as he was the catalyst for a period of sustained success, when the club won three Championships and four FA Cups in a seven-year spell.
"Bruce Rioch was the man who signed him in 1995 and there was a feeling then that Bergkamp would take Arsenal in a different direction.
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| Dennis Bergkamp during his Arsenal heyday |
"That's what he did. When I look back at Bergkamp, it's not to see what his figures were in the title-winning years — 12 assists (2001-02) and seven (2003-04) — but to think about, for example, his astonishing pirouette turn and finish against Newcastle at St James' Park, when he dummied two defenders.
"A sublime hat-trick at Leicester and his first goals for the club against Southampton at Highbury are also easily recalled.
"Statistics don't get remembered anywhere near as much as those magical moments. Put it this way: do you remember Thierry Henry, the greatest player in the Premier League era, for the goals he scored and the trophies he won or the fact he set the record for most assists (20) in 2002-03?"
Carragher however thinks that Ozil can only be talked in the same breath as Bergkamp if he guides them to the title come May.
"If Ozil continues to sparkle when it matters in the next 19 fixtures — there is a feeling in Germany that he doesn't always produce in big matches — and inspires Wenger's squad to their first Premier League title since 2004, it would make him a legend in the eyes of Arsenal fans," Carragher continued.
"Until then, the Bergkamp comparisons must wait. Ozil must take Arsenal to the title if he wants to get there."
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