Fenerbahce ask fans to help pay for Mesut Ozil’s wages because of £500m debt
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Fenerbahce have asked their fans to help pay for Mesut Ozil’s wages because they have £500million of debt.
The midfielder’s free transfer from Arsenal has been confirmed after weeks of negotiations with the Premier League giants.
It brings an end to his £350,000-a-week contract with the north London side, having made his last appearance in March.
Ozil is taking a pay cut in Turkey that will reduce his salary from £18million a year down to £13million.
But Fenerbahce are finding funds hard to come by as they battle £460m in debut.
And club president Ali Koc appeal to the club’s fan base for help in securing their new star man’s wages in Istanbul.
The Fenerbahce chief said: “We have a request for our fans. Please continue to support us, we are also dependent on your financial support.
“On the day of the signature, I will ask you to break a record. With an SMS campaign.
“Maybe 300,000, 500,000 or maybe even a million text messages come together. This support will do us very good.”
Fans have been urged to send texts that cost just under £2 in the “Mesutol campaign” to the number 1907 – the same year Fenerbahce was founded.
The club’s financial struggles stem from the face they are trying to battle the fees owed without a debt-restrucuting programme.
While the signing of eight first-time players for the 2020/21 campaign also set them back.
But Fenerbahce supporters have thrown their support behind the campaign, liking the post 300,000 times and retweeting it 105,000 times within half an hour of Ozil’s confirmation.
The Turkish side are not the only club sweating over his fees, though, as an end to his Gunners contract left £8.75million outstanding in the 25 weeks of his contract not taken up.
Fenerbahce’s new star, though, did offer his side a financial plan that would extend payments to the summer of 2021 at £68,000 per week.
- Mesut Ozil
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