ISTANBUL, Turkey — Mesut Ozil said farewell to Arsenal teammates and flew to Turkey on Sunday to join Fenerbahce in a bid to reignite a once-flourishing career that faltered in London. Ozil posed for photos with Erdogan in May 2018 in the run-up to the Turkish general election — prompting serious criticism from German soccer officials and antagonizing some in …
Mesut Ozil is convinced Arsenal's commercial interests in China influenced the club's decision to omit him from their Premier League and Europa League squads. Ozil's inflammatory statement is understood to have been a reference to his infamous Instagram post last December in which he condemned China's alleged mistreatment of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province, which despite being quickly disowned …
Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba has called on footballers to stand up for Uighur Muslims and condemn China’s treatment of the minority group regardless of the financial consequences. If we stand up, people stand up with us.” Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, a German Muslim of Turkish origin, last year called Uighurs “warriors who resist persecution” and criticized both China’s crackdown …
Arsenal did not criticise Ozil for making the comments, but instead posted on their page on the Chinese social media site Weibo that the club “always adheres to the principles” of not getting involved in politics. Former Germany international Ozil, who was frozen out by Gunners boss Mikel Arteta for “football reasons” since the coronavirus restart, would have liked similar …
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