How former Arsenal team-mates Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Flamini are aiming to save the planet

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Hitting the bottle! Ozil and Flamini at their UNITY launch in Covent Garden this week
James Olley8 November 2018

It was during hydrotherapy sessions after training at London Colney in 2013 when Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Flamini first began hatching a plan.

The pair quickly became close friends after arriving at Arsenal just three days apart, Ozil in a then club-record £42.4million move and Flamini re-joining on a free transfer after five years away at AC Milan.

Flamini was 29-years-old at the time but the Frenchman already had one eye on life after football, co-founding a company called GF Biochemicals with one aim: to save the planet.

It was not long before Ozil nicknamed him “the businessman”. “As soon as I arrived in London, Mat helped me a lot,” Ozil told Standard Sport.

“The most interesting thing about Mat was that he was the businessman. He spoke about business before training, after training, whenever.

“When we trained hard and went to the cold water area afterwards to spend a little bit of time there recovering, we always spoke about his business, his ideas, me and whether we could do something together in the future.”

Photo: Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Flamini left the Gunners in 2016 to spend a season at Crystal Palace before ending his playing career at Spanish side Getafe but he remained in close contact with Ozil, developing an idea which finally came to fruition this week at a launch in London’s Covent Garden.

UNITY is a well-being brand aiming to promote sustainability and social betterment with the aim of helping to save the environment, initially comprising 11 vegan-friendly bath, body and skincare products which are 99 per cent natural, with packaging made of sugar cane rather than plastic.

“For many years, I have been involved in sustainability and Mesut has been involved in social equality and he has done a lot in that field,” said Flamini.

“For me, the definition of fairness is focused on the environment, for him it is more towards the people so we said ‘OK, why not create a brand that is fair to the planet and the people’.”

"I will work with Mathieu on this for years because we are like brothers and want to give something back "

Mesut Ozil

Ozil’s motivation comes from an impoverished upbringing, born in Gelsenkirchen after his grandparents emigrated from Turkey. He was born during a period of industrial decline in Germany where the unemployment rate for migrants exceeded 70 per cent.

Two years ago, the 30-year-old visited the Zaatari refugee camp north of Amman in Jordan, a site where vast numbers have fled from the war in nearby Syria. UNITY ultimately want to help stop climate change and the effect it has on what are termed ‘climate migrants’, estimated by the World Bank to total 143 million worldwide. “I grew up in an environment of poverty,” he said. “In my childhood, I didn’t have much and I see that in other people. My biggest experience of that was when I went to the Zaatari camp. That was the moment I realised ‘I have to do more’.

“I will work with Mathieu on this for years - after I finish playing - because we are like brothers. We want to give something back.”

Ozil is showing no signs of stopping yet. His form has improved this season under new head coach Unai Emery and, after signing a new contract in January worth £350,000 a week which ties him to the club until 2021, the retired Germany international believes he could end his career at Emirates Stadium.

“Why not? I am still young, I am 30 years old,” he said.

“In football, everything is possible but I am really happy to play for a big club such as Arsenal. I just enjoy it and I can imagine myself finishing my career at Arsenal.”

So, when might that me? “Maybe aged 38! No, really, I always think if I feel well, I could go on until I am 35 or 36, I don’t know,” he said. “If everything is good, we’ll see.”

Photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Emery has guided Arsenal to a 14-game unbeaten run they will look to extend when they face Sporting Lisbon in tonight’s Europa League group stage clash at Emirates Stadium. A victory will guarantee their place in the last 32 and Ozil praised the impact Emery has made since replacing Arsene Wenger in the summer.

“The new manager knows what he wants,” he said. “Of course, the first two games were difficult for us because everything was new after Wenger. But now you can see we are going forward step by step.

“We are in a good way and we want to continue that under him. He is a really good coach, he wants to understand the player, the club and we want to show him on the pitch what we can do. At the moment, it is going well but we have to work hard to reach our aim.”

Flamini interjects. “And you can see from the outside, players know exactly what to do,” he said, with Ozil nodding in agreement.

“That’s the feeling I have. The team are well-positioned, well-structured and you can see when they lose the ball, they know how to get back into position. That is very important.”

They continue in conversation flitting between Arsenal and business. The only thing missing was the hydro-pool.

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