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Ozil Bids Farewell to Arsenal, Joins Fenerbahce

Mesut Pillar said good-bye to Arsenal's teammates and flew to Turkey on Sunday to join Fenerbahce in an attempt to reintroduce a once-flowering career that had flared up in London.

The former German centerman, who is of Turkish origin, has not played for Arsenal since March after falling out of favor with manager Mikel Arteta over complaints about the work rate of the player, reports Hindustan Times.

"I am very excited. I've said I'm a Fenerbahce fan. I am very happy to be coming to Fenerbahce," Ozil said in a telephone interview with Turkish broadcaster BBO Sports. "God has granted me the chance to wear the Fenerbahce uniform as a Fenerbahce fan. I will do my best for the team."

Despite being one of the top earners, the 32-year-old Ozil was not even named in Arsenal's Premier League squad for the season and has been ostentatiously tweeting his love for the team from his home throughout matches.

Now Arsenal has managed to offload Ozil before his contract expires in June. Fenerbahce posted images of Ozil leaving London on a private jet on Sunday night.

After 7.5 years at Arsenal, which he joined from Real Madrid, Ozil is heading to one of the favoured clubs of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Welcome to your home, your country dear @MesutOzil1088," Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted.

In the run-up to the Turkish general election in May 2018, Ozil posed for photographs with Erdogan, drawing significant backlash from German football officials and antagonizing others in Germany who thought that the player was not truly behind the national team, although the president was an official witness at Ozil's wedding ceremony.

In 2014, Fenerbahce captured the last of its 19 Turkish Liga titles. Since a match-fixing controversy erupted in 2011, the team has not been in the Champions League group phase.

Ozil's last Arsenal match was in March, a week before the coronavirus epidemic halted football, so he could not be match-sharp to start immediately with Fenerbahce.

Ozil became ostracized by Arsenal just as Arteta was hired as manager in December 2019. The club distanced itself from Ozil standing up for Muslims in the Xinjiang province of China after he condemned the detention of more than 1 million Uighurs and other minorities in so-called re-education camps.

A social media post from Ozil also denounced China for burning Qurans, closing mosques and killing religious scholars.

Ozil's criticism of China led to Arsenal's match being pulled from Chinese television. The Chinese government accused Ozil of being "blinded and misled" and Arsenal said "the content he expressed is entirely Ozil's personal opinion" and stressed it was not getting involved as a club.

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Topic : Sports Football

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