ARSENAL fear they will be stuck with Mesut Ozil until the very last day of his contract despite him being linked with a January move.
The out-of-favour midfielder, 32, still has 25 weeks of his Gunners contract to run, which means he is due to collect £8.75MILLION between now and the end of June.
Mesut Ozil’s happy times at Arsenal appear to be well overCredit: Getty Images – Getty
And the way his agreement is structured means he will also be due a hefty ‘loyalty bonus’ if he is still at the club when his huge £350,000-a-week deal expires.
All of which has convinced the Arsenal hierarchy that Ozil will hang around until he has collected every penny due to him.
Reports in Turkey claim Fenerbahce have agreed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the German worth £90,000 a week.
But the Super Lig club are £275m in debt and have already asked fans to donate towards their wage bill.
The £42.5m signing has also been linked with a move to join DC United in time for the new MLS season in March.
But Ozil’s agent Dr Erkut Sogut said: “His priority is to stay at Arsenal but things can change very fast in football and he might go, so we are checking all the options for this month and for the summer.”
It is nine months since Ozil last appeared for the Gunners and he has not even been registered to play in the Premier or Europa Leagues.
Ozil has now entered the final six months of his deal and is free to talk to clubs abroad, with clubs in the MLS and Turkey both linked with the ex-Real Madrid man.
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Up until their mini revival over the festive period, Arsenal had struggled for form.
Some believed that could lead to Ozil coming back into the fold when Arteta names his 25-man squads for domestic competitions and the Europa League at the end of this month.
Arteta had also stated that the German would not be offered a golden handshake to walkaway from the club.
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Arteta insists Arsenal will not terminate Mesut Ozil’s contract despite banishing him from squad
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
