Mesut Özil reportedly technically joined Fenerbahce on a permanent transfer, not as a free agent after a contract termination.

The Athletic report that in the end, Mesut Özil didn’t end up terminating his Arsenal contract to move to Fenerbahce as a free agent.

Initially, The Athletic reported Özil had agreed terms with Arsenal to end his contract early. He had waived some of the money owed by the club and travelled to Turkey to finalise the deal. However, it ended up being a permanent transfer instead.

There still wasn’t any fee for the move, but the reason for the nature of the deal is so Arsenal can potentially receive future bonuses from it.

A Fenerbahce statement confirms Arsenal will receive a maximum of €1.7m in bonus payments if the player achieves various targets in terms of matches played, and so on.

The end result for the player is exactly the same, that he moves from Arsenal to Fenerbahce on a permanent deal. It just might mean a bit of money coming Arsenal’s way further down the road.

The Athletic add that the final pay-off negotiated with Arsenal was over his remaining salary and image rights. As we know, he agreed to give some (but not all) of that up.

Özil has had his medical and joined training with his new side, and you can see more pictures here.