Arsenal finally have an agreement with Mesut Özil to leave the club, reaching a compromise as he prepares to join Fenerbahce.

Arsenal's Spanish head coach Mikel Arteta (R) embraces Arsenal's German midfielder Mesut Ozil (L) on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in London on January 1, 2020. - Arsenal won the game 2-0. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / IKIMAGES / AFP)
Arsenal’s Spanish head coach Mikel Arteta (R) embraces Arsenal’s German midfielder Mesut Ozil (L) on January 1, 2020. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / IKIMAGES / AFP)

David Ornstein of The Athletic reported on Saturday morning that Arsenal and Mesut Özil have an agreement in principle to terminate his contract six months early. Barring any late hitches, the player will complete his move to Fenerbahce as a free agent this weekend.

Özil was scheduled to earn around £7m before the end of his Arsenal deal, but the two parties seemingly reached a financial compromise to terminate the contract early.

TheAFCBell report that Fenerbahce’s initial offer to Özil was a six-month loan to the end of his Arsenal contract.

However, Arsenal didn’t want to pay a large percentage of the player’s salary throughout those months. As a result, settling the contract early was the best option.

Fabrizio Romano adds that Özil is expected to sign his Fenerbahce contract on Monday.

Finally, it looks like we’re nearing the end of a distracting and unwelcome saga involving Özil and Arsenal. For all the good moments in his seven-and-a-half-year spell in North London, the last seven months have been a bit painful.

Özil hasn’t played for the club since March 2020, with Mikel Arteta choosing to leave him out of the Premier League and Europa League squads for this season.

After that decision, an early exit was always the best option. They just need to finalise it now.