Ozil reveals the secret behind incredible control

In an interview with Arsenal Magazine, the German star revealed all, when asked about his touch...

"When I was younger, if I saw something lying around, I would try to juggle with it,"

"I would always go on vacation with my friends and we would always play games like two touch using a tennis ball, or play with a basketball, which is heavier than a normal ball

"[I didn't just play] with chewing gum or tennis balls, sometimes with basketballs or medicine balls too - even ones that are 5kg, though that is very difficult. Sometimes on the pitch if the game has finished and I see some tape on the floor, I'll take it and play with that too.

"What helped me before was playing against older people. I would play against my brother and his friends and they were always five or six years older than me.

"When I was 11, they were already 17 or 18. It was tough to play against them and the pitch I grew up playing on wasn't that nice, it always had stones on it.

"You had to be really concentrated when you got the ball. I think that kind of stuff helped me more.

"Juggling with tennis balls is good but I think what helped my technique was the pitch I grew up on in Gelsenkirchen."