The future of Mesut Ozil’s football career
The Gunners playmaker was once among the most sought-after talents in football and still has his fans admirers.
Mesut Ozil, however, finds himself shunted to the periphery
at Arsenal and currently, having been cut from the official squad, it looks almost
certain that he will be moving on to a new club once his contract expires.
As a famous World Cup winner who is widely lauded as one of
the finest playmakers of his generation, Ozil's fall from grace at the Emirates
Stadium is an interesting source of confusion for many, particularly as the
Gunners struggle for creativity.
Nevertheless, for others it is an example of poor management
- both in terms of giving the player such ax expensive deal in the first place
and then proceeding to alienate him so publicly.
So, when will the German's north London nightmare come to an
end?
When exactly does Mesut Ozil's Arsenal contract expire?
Ozil's Arsenal contract will expire in the summer of 2021,
at which point he will be deemed a free agent.
The World Cup winner's current deal with the Gunners was signed
in February 2018 and he reportedly received a significant wage boost in putting
pen to paper on that occasion.
Indeed, it is believed that the playmaker earns
approximately £350,000 ($470k) weekly on the deal, which would make him one of
the best earners in the Premier League.
In fact, American business magazine Forbes listed Ozil as
one of the highest paid athletes in the entire world in 2020.
He was one of only fourteen footballers to be included on that
list and came in at number 49, ahead of basketball player Kyle Lowry and golfer
Jordan Spieth, and Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann.
While, at 32 years of age, Ozil cannot be believed to be in
his prime, he is still an incredibly talented footballer with a vast well of
experience beneath him and there will be plenty of suitors for this star.
Turkish club Fenerbahce are interested in bringing Ozil to Turkey
and he has been consistently linked. Indeed, Ozil, who is very proud of his
Turkish heritage, was even touted for a switch to the Super Lig club at the onset
of 2020 by Gunners team-mate Mohamed Elneny.
"Mesut really loves Fenerbahce. He's always speaking
about the club and the fans," Elneny, who was on loan at Besiktas at the
time, remarked. "If you ask me, I think he could come to Fenerbahce. He's
always trying to annoy me by singing Fenerbahce chants."
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