German Football Association (DFB) President Reinhard Grindel who quickly joined anti-Ozil circles after the Turkish German football star met Turkish president Erdogan in May backed away from his previous position, saying he never blamed Mesut Ozil for the World Cup failure and he should have been more supportive of him when the midfielder was the target of “racist attacks”.
Mesut Ozil had his photograph taken with the Turkish president during a visit in London in May. Ozil faced mounting racist attacks from German media, politicans and Grindel himself following the meeting which ended in retirement of Ozil from German national team.
Grindel said following world cup early departure that they should not have taken Ozil to Russia, putting the blame of the failure on the young player although he was barely given playing time. Grindel also stated many times that Ozil should come out and apologize for meeting the Turkish president.
German Football boss gave an interview to Bild newspaper on Sunday saying he should have handled the incident differently. “I should have positioned myself more clearly given the racist attacks from some corners and I should have put myself in front of Mesut Ozil,” Grindel said.
Grindel, however, said he had never blamed Ozil for that failure. “It was always clear for me that we win together and we lose together. It would be absurd to blame one single player for our elimination,” the 56-year-old, who took over the DFB in 2016, said.
However, Grindel did tried to put the blame on Ozil after the world cup disaster.
People in the business says German National team will seeks ways to convince Mesut to rejoin the national team.
Diaspora Daily 