Football transfer rumours: Mesut Özil to leave Arsenal for Fenerbahce?

Today’s tell-all will pull itself together and keep on holding on

Unai Emery may have denied reports that he has fallen out with Mesut Özil, but news from Turkey has done little to quell speculation that that all is not well in the relationship between the Arsenal manager and his star midfielder. News organisation Fotomac says Fehnerbahce are lining up a cheeky bid for Özil in January, speculation that ought to be taken with a shovel full of salt considering the rather parlous state of the club’s finances.

While they’re not exactly short of a bob or two, the Turkish football expert Emre Sarigul, writing recently in the Guardian, says that Fenerbahce’s new president, Ali Koc, “has made it his duty to sort out the spiralling debts, currently standing at a staggering €621m”. With three years remaining on his £350,000-per-week contract, Özil won’t come cheap. Furthermore, at 29 years of age, such a deal hardly fits in with the Turkish club’s new policy of investing only in young players. In slightly more plausible speculation, Manchester United are also believed to be monitoring the situation of a player Arsenal are believed to value at around £40m.

Continue reading...