Yahoo Finance Mesut Ozil to leave Arsenal after reaching verbal agreement with club
Mesut Ozil is set to leave Arsenal in the coming days after reaching a verbal agreement with the club over the termination of his contract.
No final agreement has yet been reached on the exact terms of Ozil’s departure but his move to Fenerbahce, as a free agent, is now expected to be completed soon.
Ozil, whose £350,000-per-week wages have been a significant drain on Arsenal’s stretched finances, has not played for Arsenal since March after falling out of favour under manager Mikel Arteta.
His omission has been a constant distraction for Arteta and the club’s executives, who have been desperate to remove him from their wage bill as they attempt to rebuild and refresh the squad.
Ozil and his representatives had previously insisted that the playmaker would not leave Arsenal before the end of his contract, which expires in the summer, but he has now been convinced to find a new team.
With Turkish reports suggesting earlier this month that Fenerbahce were close to agreeing a deal with Ozil, the 32-year-old has dropped hints in recent days that Istanbul would be his next destination.
“I grew up as a Fenerbahce fan as a kid in Germany – every German-Turkish person supports a Turkish team when they grow up in Germany,” he said last week. “And mine was Fenerbahce. Fenerbahce is like Real Madrid in Spain. The biggest club in the country.”
MLS side DC United were also interested in Ozil, who had been given no indication by Arsenal or Arteta that he would be reinstated to the squad this month despite space possibly opening up in the squad due to other departures in the transfer window.
Ozil’s representatives have been free to negotiate with other clubs since the start of January, although his enormous wages at Arsenal have made his exit more complicated. ESPN have reported that Ozil will not be receiving the full wages, around £7 million, that remain unpaid on his Arsenal contract.
Arsenal have already loaned out Sead Kolasinac, one of Ozil’s biggest allies in the dressing room, and are also planning for defender Sokratis to leave this month.
The departure of Ozil will dismay many of his most loyal supporters, who have been vocal in their backing of the player at the Emirates Stadium in recent seasons, but will bring a relief to the club as they end an episode which has dragged on for an uncomfortably long amount of time.
