Mesut Ozil plans to retire from football and pursue a career as a professional gamer, which might happen sooner than later considering his current circumstances at Fenerbahce.
Following a verbal incident with Fenerbahce interim manager Ismail Kartal in March, Ozil and teammate Ozan Tufan were dropped from the first-team roster.
After falling out of favor at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, the World Cup champion joined the Turkish powerhouse in January 2021.
Mesut Ozil has made 37 appearances for Fenerbahce and scored nine goals, but is back in the same scenario, with new manager Jorge Jesus informing him he would not play because he has “served his time.”
The former Real Madrid playmaker has two years left on his contract, but he is already planning his post-football future.
Dr. Erkut Sogut, Ozil’s agent, has announced that the former Germany international will focus on competitive gaming after his football career.
“I think he will not play football in any other club any more. I can’t see that – it will be Fenerbahce and that’s it,” Sogut told The Telegraph.
“He will go more into esports, play himself and maybe become an esports athlete. He’s really good, to be honest, at Fortnite and I think one day I wouldn’t be surprised if he is competing. He owns a team – M10 Esports – and he has players. He has a gaming house in Germany. He has football, like Fifa, and Fortnite.”
Ozil’s Twitch channel, which he started in 2018, has 175,000 subscribers. He broadcasts Fortnite on a daily basis, and there was a crazy conspiracy theory circulating a few years ago that claimed his ongoing back issues were linked to his gaming addiction.
Ozil, then an Arsenal player, recorded 600 victories and played 5,221 20-minute matches on Epic Games’ free-to-play title at the time of the outrageous claim.
Mesut Ozil troubles at Fenerbahce
Mesut Ozil was pursuing a childhood goal when he joined Fenerbahce, but his time in Turkey has turned into a nightmare for the former Arsenal midfielder, as he has been pulled from his current employers’ roster.
In January 2021, the 2014 World Cup winner cut ties with Arsenal and seized the chance to reunite with the side he grew up supporting.
He has, however, struggled in Istanbul, and after being taken out at half-time in his most recent match against Konyaspor, he has been kept out of the first-team plans.
“Football A Team players Mesut Ozil and Ozan Tufan have been excluded from the squad as per the decisions taken,” Fener said in a statement issued on the club’s official website on Thursday, March 24, 2022.
What happened to Ozil when he was in Turkey?
Ozil had hoped to make a fresh start in Turkey after receiving a lot of flak towards the end of his time in England.
While working on a large contract, questions about his participation were bound to arise, and he had fallen short of expectations.
In his first 11 games for Fener, he only had one assist and no goals and missed several weeks due to injuries last season.
However, his productivity improved afterward, as he scored on eight occasions in the Super Lig, but has not been as inspiring as everyone involved in such a high-profile transaction had hoped.
After suffering a back injury in January, he was forced to miss seven games across all competitions before returning in early March. He was subsequently substituted during the second half of Fener’s 2-1 win over Konyaspor.
The former Germany international was not happy with his decreased game time and the fact that the club was indebted to him reportedly forced him to stay out of the team before the club forced him out completely.
“The news that Mesut Ozil did not play because his debts from the club were not paid have nothing to do with the facts,” the club wrote in response to claims that the 33-year-old refused to play because payments were not arriving on time.
“As we have often experienced, this kind of fake news that is created completely haphazardly without being confirmed by any official from our club is beyond our tolerance limit.
“Despite the heavy economic conditions at Fenerbahce, payments have been made on time until now.”
M10 ESPORTS by Ozil
M10 was founded in 2018 by Mesut Ozil and has since evolved to become one of the most professional teams in the globe.
Mesut Ozil’s Professional eSports Team
Mesut decided to give young and devoted players a home where they might develop into tomorrow’s esport stars out of his own passion for gaming and esports. Mesut wants to provide players the opportunity to learn from his expertise as one of the world’s best professional football sportsmen while also helping high-level players and teams.
He said: “I‘ve always played video games as an ambitious casual gamer. I‘m a believer that both sports and esports have a lot of things in common. As a professional football athlete and former World Champion, I have a lot of experience of what it takes to be successful in the world of sports. I want to help and develop young esports talent and ensure they benefit from my experience in football.“
