Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker, who retired at the end of last season, was asked to pick up a team of eleven he has played with. The fact that he has played with some of the best players of his time ~ it was not surprise that he was struggling to pick up the best ones. Though he came up with some surprise selections.
Mertesacker played for the likes of Hannover, Werder Bremen and Arsenal complemented by 104 caps for Germany.
Per spent seven years playing for Arsenal, but only had couple of Arsenal players in his team with notable absence of highly rated players viz. Alexis Sanchez, Robin Van Persie and Petr Cech.
Only Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny found a place in Per Mertesacker’s eleven.
He has not only left out his Arsenal colleagues, but also German players like Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos were absent from his eleven.
Its still a very strong team, with the likes of Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Claudio Pizarro joining Robert Enke, Torsten Frings and Diego.
Mertesacker’s all-time XI: Robert Enke, Clemens Fritz, Philipp Lahm, Laurent Koscielny, Naldo, Hanno Balitsch, Torsten Frings, Diego, Mesut Ozil, Miroslav Klose, Claudio Pizarro.