'Özil, magician in boots'

Mesut Özil forms part of the select group of players who have managed to astonish the Santiago Bernabéu fans. Such has been his progress over the past three years, that MARCA journalist Juan Ignacio García-Ochoa has written a book about his breakthrough into football and the career which has followed, 'Özil. Magician in boots'.

The book follows Mesut Özil's sporting career from the age of 7, when he pretended to be Zidane on a pitch called the 'monkey cage', through to last season, when he experienced every possible facet of football: the joy of being seen as an idol, and the disappointment of defeat.

However, 'Özil. Magician in boots' is, above all, an enjoyable story about the dramatic career of one of the best players in the world. Based on interviews with his early coaches and his family, teammates and friends, the author takes us through his first steps in the junior and youth teams of Gelsenkirchen, his signing for Schalke at the age of 15, the brave step of leaving his beloved club behind to move to Werder Bremen and, of course, his transfer to Real Madrid.

As the book reveals, the last of these signings started to come together in July of 2009, as soon as Florentino Pérez returned to the Real Madrid presidency and when Manuel Pellegrino was the 'Los Blancos' manager.