Overview

• In 2019, Mesut Özil and Sead Kolasinac were targeted in a brazen street robbery in London by Ashley Smith and Jordan Northover, who fled empty-handed after Kolasinac fought back.
• Smith, recently released after serving half of his 10-year sentence, spoke on a podcast, showing little remorse and lamenting the missed opportunity to steal luxury items worth an estimated €180,000.
• The attackers, riding mopeds, used a knitting needle as a weapon, which Smith clarified after earlier assumptions it was a knife.
• Özil and Kolasinac escaped the attackers during a chaotic pursuit, ultimately finding safety in a Turkish restaurant where bystanders intervened.
• Smith admitted the robbery was poorly executed, describing it as a result of greed and bad planning, and acknowledged his history of both large and small thefts.