Mesut Ozil is reportedly ready to walk away from a huge pay-off in order to finally move away from Arsenal this month.
Arsenal’s biggest earner has six months remaining on his £350,000-a-week contract meaning he has around £8m in wages to come.
But David Ornstein of The Athletic says Ozil is prepared to write off a proportion of that in order to move on.
Talks are already underway with Ozil’s representatives and the club over a termination of his contract. However, if no common ground is found then the former German international will sit on the sidelines on his current wages.
The 32-year-old has been frozen out of the Gunners first team this season. He was not included in either the Premier League or Europa League squads and an exit seems inevitable.
Ozil has not featured since March but has been active on social media. He held a question and answer session on Twitter on Monday where he made it clear a move to Turkey or the USA were his preferred options
Ozil has changed his mind over his future, having previously revealed his plans to stay until his contract expired.
Now though a move to Turkey looks favourite with Fenerbahce President Ali Koç confident they can pull off a deal.
Mustafi future
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal are not looking to sell Shkodran Mustafi during the January transfer window.
The Germany defender is out of contract in the summer and can walk away for free at the end of the season.
Mustafi, 28, has struggled for minutes this term, having returned to fitness following a hamstring injury which saw him ruled out of the FA Cup final win over Chelsea on August 1.
Speaking in October he said it “would mean a lot” to stay at Arsenal. There were reports he had rejected a new deal at the Emirates Stadium.
This was despite not being a permanent fixture in Arteta’s side, with the Gunners boss having several centre-back options.
But, having let William Saliba leave on loan. And admitting Greece international Sokratis Papastathopoulos is set to depart, Arteta wants to keep hold of Mustafi.
“His future right now is here,” the Spaniard replied when asked about the situation.
