Revealed: Mesut Ozil has cost Arsenal more than £7m since Fenerbahce move

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:39 CDT
• 3 min read

Mesut Ozil’s legacy at Arsenal continues to be felt, despite the former Germany international playmaker having departed the Emirates Stadium for Fenerbahce in January.

Out of Mikel Arteta’s plans, Ozil was allowed to depart on a free transfer in order to get his sizeable wage off the club’s accounts before his contract expired at the end of the season.

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But according to The Athletic, the Gunners are still paying out well more than £300,000 per week on Ozil and they will be until his deal expires at the end of June.

That means that since Ozil signed for Fenerbahce on 24 January – a period of 22 weeks and three days – the Gunners have paid the ex-Real Madrid star approximately £7.25 million.

Ozil’s dream move proving difficult

Ozil, meanwhile, has not endured much luck since his move to Fenerbahce, the club he grew up supporting.

He has managed only seven outings for the Istanbul club, including six in the Super Lig and one more in the Turkish Cup, a 2-1 extra-time defeat by Istanbul Basaksehir.

Meanwhile, in the six league games Ozil has managed, including four stars, Fener managed to win only 10 points.

The 32-year-old, meanwhile, has not appeared since sustaining ankle ligament damage at the beginning of March in an encounter against Konyaspor.

Ozil is currently building up his fitness after the injury, with Fenerbahce having enjoyed an improved run of fortunes with him on the sidelines. They are only three points off first placed Besiktas in the Super Lig having enjoyed something of a revival under caretaker boss Emre Belozoglu.

Arsenal, meanwhile, did manage to free up some wages by releasing Ozil that doubtless helped to finance the arrival of Martin Odegaard on loan from Real Madrid. As such, on balance they are probably the winners in this situation.

Nevertheless, the hefty bill Arsenal are still paying for Ozil only serves to underline how bad their business was by tying him to such a substantial contract in the first place was.