It was the rats that most traumatised Mesut Ozil. Almost everything else about his childhood growing up in Bulmke Hullen, a mini Turkish enclave in the German city of Gelsenkirchen, seems to have been generally positive.
The fourth-floor apartment his family lived in was small and he shared a room with his brother, Mutlu. As the older brother, Mutlu got the bed and Mesut just a mattress, which was stored away during the day. He lived a parallel life to most Germans, speaking only Turkish until he was four.
But despite the relative poverty — his mother was a cleaner and his father a factory worker — it seems he was happy with his lot.