Ozil Moves To Fenerbahce, The Midfielder's Hopes To Stay At Arsenal Do Not Come True

Mesut Ozil (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - Arsenal and attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil finally parted ways after the two reportedly agreed to terminate the German player's contract with Turkish blood.

The agreement makes Arsenal no longer obliged to pay Ozil's remaining salary from his contract which was due to expire in June of £ 7 million (approximately Rp. 133.8 billion).

Following the deal, Ozil is scheduled to leave for Turkey to complete his free move to Fenerbahce, The Athletic columnist David Ornstein reported on Saturday, January 16.

Ozil recently expressed his desire to stay and fight for a place in Arsenal's first team.

Even so, the owner of the 2014 World Cup winner's medal was not included in Arsenal's squad for the English Premier League or Europa League this season by manager Mikel Arteta.

Ozil's playing minutes at Arsenal have indeed decreased drastically since the arrival of Arteta's predecessor, Unai Emery, and with a salary burden of 350 thousand (approximately Rp. 6.7 billion) per week, the Gunners will certainly be willing to leave their expenditure items in the midst of this pandemic.

Since being signed from Real Madrid in the summer of 2013, Ozil has appeared in 254 matches in all competitions in total and contributed 44 goals.

Ozil also played a direct role in helping Arsenal win three FA Cup trophies in 2014, 2015 and 2017.