Sir Alex Ferguson often timed his scouting trips conveniently. He skipped Manchester United's League Cup tie at Shrewsbury in September 2010 to scrutinise David de Gea play at Valencia, who were hosting United the following week, and watched Mesut Ozil at Fulham a fortnight before United turned up at Craven Cottage in August.

"I think a lot of clubs are interested in Ozil," Ferguson sheepishly said. Ozil, mesmeric at the South Africa World Cup earlier that summer, joined Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid for a knockdown £12.4million and United bought Bebe for £7m. The RedIssue fanzine's gossipy Word on the Street section had a hit-rate to rival most nationals for transfer lines and detailed that United scouts had bizarrely deemed Ozil 'too left-footed'.

Wayne Rooney disagreed and told Ferguson about his gripe. The irony is had United bought Ozil Rooney might not have lasted seven more years at Old Trafford and supplanted Sir Bobby Charlton as their highest scorer.

Rooney was the rationale for United's decision not to go for Ozil in 2013. Real Madrid were hawking the German in an attempt to offset the world record fee they were about to pay Tottenham for Gareth Bale, but David Moyes declined the chance to sign Ozil as he indulged the wantaway Rooney. Arsenal took the plunge and captured Ozil for a club record £42.4m.

Moyes denied United had any interest in the resurgent Ross Barkley later that season, stressing United already had a No.10 in Rooney. It would be disingenuous to credit him with the addition of Juan Mata in the winter window, an appeasement buy which was orchestrated by Ed Woodward amid a string of cataclysmic results.

Ozil would have walked into the United team in 2010 or 2013 but not now. Mata is playing his best football at the club under Mourinho and, despite his recent performance dip, Mkhitaryan has proved to be the solution to United's 13-year playmaker problem.

Mourinho is a coach Ozil 'loves'. They arrived and left Madrid in the same years and after Chelsea beat Arsenal in an October 2013 League Cup tie Mourinho embraced his former playmaker on the Emirates turf. Ozil gifted Mourinho his shirt and that mutual admiration has not diminished.

"What about Manchester?"
"What about Manchester?"

Ozil has been linked recurringly with United over the last year yet a playmaker was not a priority for Mourinho in the summer and he has used Mkhitaryan more centrally in his second campaign, while accommodating Mata in six of United's eight Premier League matches. A wide player is preferable, with United monitoring Danny Rose's return from injury at Tottenham with a view to a possible bid next year.

Ozil is also similar to James Rodriguez, a player spuriously linked with United for months despite the club having no interest in him. Ozil's stock is in need of a lift after he bottled a match-clinching moment in the Gunners' defeat at Watford last week. Agents and representatives have used United as a pawn for years to smoke out bidders and Thomas Lemar was a recent example, only Arsenal - and Liverpool - were unable to prise him away from Monaco.

The Mourinho factor should not be underestimated, nor should Ozil's disenchantment at Arsenal. United supporters have already seen Nemanja Matic reassert himself as the finest holding midfielder in the Premier League under the Portuguese and Ozil would doubtless get a lease of life if he reunited with Mourinho. United might also be stirred by the prospect of signing another wantaway Arsenal forward running down his deal after Robin van Persie's impact.

It does say much about Ozil's clout that there were no tangible takers for him in the summer when Alexis Sanchez, the other aggrieved Arsenal attacker, was courted by Pep Guardiola. Ozil has become such a luxury that China or the MLS might beckon earlier than intended and United, as Mourinho said in August, 'has to show how big it is in details'. That would mean signing Antoine Griezmann.

He's not too left-footed.

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