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Arsenal's Mesut Ozil 'rejects lucrative Saudi move'

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 10 October 2020

Arsenal's Mesut Ozil reportedly rejects a move to a Middle Eastern club despite his future at Arsenal appearing to be non-existent.

Arsenal outcast Mesut Ozil has reportedly turned down a lucrative move to a Saudi Arabian club after his relationship with the Gunners deteriorated further.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Ozil had been left out of Arsenal's squad for the Europa League group stage, with the former Real Madrid man still waiting for his first taste of Gunners action since March.

The German has cut a frustrated figure at Arsenal over the past few months and has been frequently linked with an exit, although Ozil has supposedly rejected a move to the Middle East as he looks to see his out the remainder of his Gunners contract.

Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, journalist Duncan Castles said: "I understand that Saudi Arabia's interest in Premier League players doesn't end with Juan Mata.

"There has also been a proposal to Mesut Ozil which would go down very well with the hierarchy at Arsenal if they managed to get Ozil off their books.

"They have left him out of their Europa League squad and have been trying to get him to accept a settlement on his contract for some time now unsuccessfully.

"They watched him do a very intelligent and quite amusing public relations move in going on social media to back your favourite Gunnersaurus and guarantee that he would cover Gunnersaurus's wages for as long as he remained at the club.

"I believe Ozil has turned that move down partly because of his relationships and history with Turkey, who do not have the best of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia at present."

Following the news that Arsenal were making Jerry Quy - the man behind Gunnersaurus - redundant, Ozil took to Twitter to offer to reimburse Quy's wages while he was still an Arsenal player.