"Doesn't want to steal the show from Sead": Özil's good reason not to help Schalke


"Don't want to steal the show from Sead"
Özil's good reason not to help Schalke

Mesut Özil matures into a Bundesliga player in the youth of FC Schalke, he starts his world career from Gelsenkirchen. The world champion, who was retired from Arsenal, will not help his home club, which is in dire straits, in the fight against relegation. His winking motif for it is noble.

No, Mesut Özil will not move to his home club Schalke 04 in the current transfer period. The 2014 world champion has only been sitting in the stands at Arsenal for months and his club would love to get rid of him quickly, but Özil will not help the Royal Blues, who are still seriously threatened by relegation. And for this he presented a good, plausible, even selfless reason during a question time on his Twitter profile: When a fan asked him to please support FC Schalke 04 for the rest of the season, Özil replied: "I want Sead ( Kolasinac) don't steal the show, "garnished with a smiley face.

Kolasinac, as Özil once formed into a Bundesliga player in the Schalke youth, had recently moved back from London to Gelsenkirchen and is considered the Bundesliga club's manifest hope of staying up. The lightning effect of the transfer: after almost a year, Schalke ended their 31-game winless horror series at the weekend – with a 4-0 win against TSG Hoffenheim and Kolasinac as captain.

Kolasinac, Özil and their common history

The defender will play on loan until the end of the season for FC Schalke, who were promoted to penultimate Bundesliga with their home win. In order to make the deal for the clammy Ruhrpott club manageable, Kolasinac should forego a good part of his salary: According to reports, the Bosnian international will collect two million euros in the coming months, most of which will continue to be transferred from London. Arsenal FC also waived a loan fee.

Özil and Kolasinac are close friends. In 2019, both were victims of a robbery together, which the soccer stars had successfully thwarted: How the perpetrators proceeded is well documented: Images from a surveillance camera show, among other things, that one of the two attackers armed several times with a knitting needle and a sharp screwdriver tried to stab Kolasinac. When he was unimpressed and fended off the attackers, the perpetrators apparently lost their nerve. Kolasinac was able to withdraw into Özil's car.

The two robbers did not let go, however, but chased the vehicle with their scooter for miles through north London. However, Özil and Kolasinac were finally able to shake them off: Özil stopped without further ado in front of a restaurant, the landlord alerted the police. A few days after the crime, British investigators managed to arrest the attackers, who have since been sentenced to long prison terms.

Change to Schalke "really not an option"

Özil will not follow his former team-mate, although he will "have eternal sympathy for Schalke 04" and wish the club "the best from the bottom of his heart". But a change is "really not an option". Instead, the 92-time German international would like to play in Turkey and the United States before ending his career. Unlike the comparatively cheap Kolasinac, Özil would really not be financially viable for his ex-club: By the end of his contract in the summer, Özil should earn up to 380,000 euros – per week.

No wonder that Arsenal would like to get rid of the 32-year-old quickly, preferably before the end of his contract in the summer: Özil has not played a single game for the Gunners this season, as coach Mikel Arteta does not give the German either for the Premier League or had reported for the Europa League. Özil is likely to switch to Fenerbahce Istanbul in winter. The transfer is apparently about to be completed. In Istanbul, Özil is to sign a contract until 2024 and collect five million euros net per year, it is said.

. (tagsToTranslate) Soccer (t) Mesut Özil (t) FC Arsenal London (t) FC Schalke 04 (t) Bundesliga soccer