A Tribute To Per Mertesacker - Arsenal's German Giant

When Per Mertesacker joined the youth ranks at Hannover 96 as an 11-year-old hopeful, he could not have envisaged how successful his footballing career would become. Fast forward 18 years and and he has nearly 400 first team appearances between Werder Bremen, Arsenal and the aforementioned Hannover, as well as almost 100 caps for the Germany national side.

Arsenal's German giant is a force to be reckoned with. He stands at nearly 6 feet 7 inches tall and has a frame who could spook any opposing forward. Although not the quickest by any means, Mertesacker's strength and intelligence off the ball has led him to become one of the finest defenders in European football.

And he's not bad on it, either. This season the 29-year-old completed 91% of his passes and hit the target with 60% of his shots, which is a better accuracy than Aaron Ramsey - the midfielder with eight goals for the club this season.

Mertesacker has the stamina and the raw desire to maintain his level of performances and is influential with it, commanding the Arsenal side to the top of the Premier League for the first time in god knows how long this season.

So let's raise a glass to the giant German, and a wiener schnitzel, to give him to credit he deserves.

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