Transfer news: Mesut Ozil to Fenerbache close

In the latest transfer news Mesut Ozil to Fenerbache seems to be close to happening, as the Arsenal playmaker is almost out of contract in north London.

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Ozil, 32, was reportedly in talks over move to D.C. United in Major League Soccer, but a fresh report from DHA in Turkey claims the silky playmaker is about to sign a three-and-a-half year contract with Fenerbache.

Per the report, Ozil will be given a $3 million signing bonus at Fenerbache and be on wages of $6.1 million per season. The report also states that Arsenal will cover the first six months of his wages at Fenerbache, so, essentially he will arrive on loan until the summer.

Why Fenerbache?

The German international has Turkish ancestors, Turkish is his first language and Fenerbache is the team he has admired, plus the report points to the house that Ozil has built in Istanbul where he plans to live with his wife Amine Gulse, who is Turkish. So that all lines up, while the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erodgan, was also a witness at his wedding to Gulse in 2019.

Ozil’s time at Arsenal is almost up, as his contract of $475,000 per week runs out in the summer and he was free to talk to non-English teams from January about signing a pre-contract agreement. Most reports suggest that Arsenal want to offload Ozil this summer, as he wasn’t included in their squad to play in the first half of the 2020-21 season and is unlikely to play in the second half of the campaign.

That would be a sad way for Ozil’s Arsenal career to end, as his relationship with manager Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal hierarchy seems to have totally broken down since March. Before that, he was key in Arteta’s rebuild of the Gunners, so this will go down as a really bizarre ending to his Arsenal career and I’m sure the truth about his lengthy absence will be revealed in due course.

How will Ozil be remembered at Arsenal?

When Ozil arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2013 from Real Madrid, I was at his debut at Sunderland when he dazzled, and many believe his arrival allowed Arsenal to continue to attract top talents to join the master creator. He won FA Cups, helped keep them in the top four for many years, and there’s a sense that perhaps he never quite had the team around him to support his moments of genius.

If you’re into cryptic social media posts potentially telling you something about a possible transfer, this photo and caption posted by Ozil a few days ago will intrigue you.

Transfer news: Mesut Ozil to Fenerbache close originally appeared on NBCSports.com