Mesut Ozil has spoken candidly about the sort of guidance he has been receiving from Arsene Wenger.

The German international joined Arsenal from Real Madrid three years ago as the club’s most expensive signing in a £42 million deal.

Despite facing criticism for being an erratic performer during his first season at the Emirates stadium, Ozil has solidified his place as a key part of the Gunners’ squad after registering 18 assists in the Premier League last season.

That tally of assists was enough to impress Arsene Wenger but the midfielder, who is now Arsenal’s second top scorer with seven goals, has revealed the boss instructed him to take more chances at finding the net himself instead of only setting up others.

“The manager wants me to score lots of goals,” he told Arsenal Player. “He sees in training that when I have a chance, the ball mostly goes in.

“When we train on finishing, he sees that I score lots of goals. He knows that I’m ice-cold in front of goal and he wants to see that in matches.

“I’m doing that now – I go forward and, while I haven’t changed my game, I’m focusing on scoring goals myself too.

“Every year he comes to me says, ‘You need to score more than 10 goals this season – that needs to be your aim because you have the quality’. I’m trying to take that on.”

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