Mesut Ozil: Arsenal midfielder says Fenerbahce ‘biggest club’ in Turkey amid

On Jan 11, 2021

Mesut Ozil has said “if I went to Turkey, I could only go to Fenerbahce” amid speculation the Turkish Super Lig club are interested in signing the Arsenal midfielder.

The 32-year-old’s representatives are currently in talks with a number of clubs, including Fenerbahce and DC United, over a move away from Arsenal, although the player’s priority is to see out his current contract until the summer.

Arsenal are yet to receive any direct contact from other clubs regarding the prospect of Ozil leaving this month. The playmaker has not featured for the Gunners since March last year after being omitted from manager Mikel Arteta’s Premier League and Europa League squads for the first half of this season.

Ozil’s brother Mutlu also posted a Fenerbahce badge with a wink-face emoji on his Instagram story at the weekend.

During a question and answer session with his 25.5m Twitter followers, Ozil posted: “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.

“And mine was Fenerbahce. Fenerbahce is like Real Madrid in Spain. The biggest club in my country.

When asked whether he will continue his playing career at the end of his Arsenal deal, Ozil wrote: “There are two countries I want to play football in before I retire: Turkey and the USA.

“If I went to Turkey, I could only go to Fenerbahce.”

During the Q&A, Ozil also ruled out re-joining his former club Schalke and joked that he would rather retire than join Arsenal’s rivals Tottenham.

The midfielder has previously spoken about being frozen out at Arsenal, accusing the club of a lack of loyalty for not including him in this season’s squads after he started every game since Arteta’s appointment prior to the 2019/20 campaign’s suspension in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He reiterated: “There have been many ups and downs so far, but all in all I’ve never regret[ted] my decision to join Arsenal. And to be honest, the last couple of games before the corona break made really a lot of fun.

“I…