Mesut Özil is about to end his contract with Fenerbahce. The 33-year-old playmaker was never happy at his favorite club and ended up shedding tears. Still, Özil could stay in Istanbul and go to a club founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
There are things Mesut Özil can’t do. One of them is singing. As outstanding as the 33-year-old filigree technician played football for long stretches of his career at Real Madrid, Arsenal and in the DFB team, his singing is all the worse.
When he moved to Fenerbahce in winter 2021, his new club ran a kind of fundraiser where you could support the club financially with an SMS.
Özil wanted to help his favorite club finance his humble self and sang a few lines from the Tarkan hit “Gül Döktüm Yollarına” in a video. There is a passage in the song where the word “Mesut” occurs and that’s why it became the anthem of Özil’s move at Fenerbahce at the time. At one point it says: “Come on, let’s be happy together.”
Almost 19 months later, it can be said that this project failed miserably. Neither Fenerbahce nor Mesut Özil were happy in this marriage. The suspension in April was followed by non-nomination for pre-summer in June.
And now the contract is about to be terminated, as Turkish media reports. The club and the player are in talks and should soon terminate the contract, which will run until 2024.
Özil had hoped that he would get another chance under Fenerbahce’s new coach Jorge Jesus. He kept sending love messages to his club on social media. But the highly decorated Jesus already said when he was introduced that he was not planning with Özil.
“The successes of the past are very important. Mesut Özil is a very good footballer, but the club’s decision about him remains,” said the Portuguese at the beginning of June. Jesus’ predecessor Ismail Kartal had suspended him – after consultation with the club, of course. Even if there was never an official reason, Kartal was bothered by his playmaker’s work ethic.
In a league game against Konyaspor, in which Özil was substituted at half-time, a scandal is said to have erupted. “There was a normal discussion between Mesut and Kartal that can happen in any dressing room. I wanted to stand by Mesut because he shed tears,” said Ozan Tufan, who was thrown out of the squad with Özil, most recently at “TRT Spor”. Tufan has now left Fenerbahce for Hull City.
Now Özil should also go. The man who should make things right. The man who should satisfy the longing for the championship, which was last won in 2014. But too often Özil had to fight with himself than with the opponent. His performances were not a disaster when he was on the pitch. But he was just too seldom on the pitch.
When Fenerbahce then played the best second half of the season in years without him, a return could no longer be explained in sporting terms.
Jorge Jesus, who watched all the club’s games from last season on video before moving to Fenerbahce, saw no use for Özil and did not even seek a discussion with the board that one could change his mind. When Fenerbahce left for the training camp, Özil was left at home. On the same day, Özil traveled to Germany to attend a wedding.
Although he wrote on Twitter that he has the firm intention of fulfilling his contract with Fenerbahce and ending his career here, the lack of a chance has probably led to a rethink. The Özil side is said to have approached the club to talk about a solution. It looks like Özil will terminate his contract at short notice.
But how expensive this resolution will be cannot be foreseen. The Turkish journalist Ibrahim Seten tweeted on Monday evening that Özil would not give up a cent and would demand the eight million euros that he was still entitled to for the next two seasons. Seten wrote, “Because they embarrassed him he won’t go down five cents.”
It would not be surprising that Fenerbahce’s President Ali Koc, one of the richest men in the country, reconciled Özil to settle the issue and not allow any further secondary theaters of war. It would also not be surprising that Özil stays in Istanbul after the contract termination.
The family built there, feels at home and Özil has long been on business in Istanbul. The ideal solution is a move to Basaksehir. Özil is said to have been in contact with the 2020 Turkish champions. According to well-informed sources, Basaksehir wants to close the deal by Friday.
Basaksehir’s coach is Emre Belözoglu, with whom Mesut Özil has an excellent relationship. Belözoglu was sporting director at Fenerbahce when Özil was brought in. At the time, Özil described Belözoglu as a “role model”. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also has connections to the club. “I founded Basaksehir,” Erdogan said in a TV interview in 2019. If the opportunity arises, he often attends the Istanbul club’s home games.
The good relationship between Erdogan and Özil is also known. When the 2021 world champion joined Fenerbahce, the president’s favorite club, Erdogan officially welcomed the footballer to Turkey. However, it is doubtful that Erdogan will play a role in the change, because the connection to Belözoglu alone is probably enough to realize a transfer.
Under a trusted coach and at a club without fan and media pressure, Özil could perhaps play freely again in his old age, be happy like in the Tarkan song and only do what he does best: play football.
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