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The proclamation was given the political note.
Even before the change was clear, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote to Mesut Özil on Twitter: “Welcome to your home, your homeland.” In any case, the topic was set and was immediately taken over.
The prodigal son, born in the Gelsenkirchen district of Bismarck and a German national player until his break in the summer of 2018, is returning home to Turkey.
Fenerbahce Istanbul got the contract, Özil's heart club since childhood.
True love?
No doubt.
But it has long been difficult to distinguish whether the sporting passion is not also mixed with political intrigue.
Because Özil has also committed himself to the Turkish ruler Erdogan.
First the pleasant photo in mid-May 2018 in the London hotel “Four Seasons”, which sparked controversy and ultimately led to Özil's break with the German national team, perhaps even with Germany.
Then his wedding to the former "Miss Turkey" Amine Gülse in Istanbul.
Best man: Erdogan.
His Adlatus took up the delicate subject again.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu, himself a big Fenerbahce fan, said to the German on Monday at a meeting with his counterpart Heiko Maas in Ankara: “I hope that you don't mind again when Mesut meets with our President , Heiko. ”Maas diplomatically wished Özil“ all the best in sports and of course that he feels comfortable in Istanbul ”.
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He had "no longer felt protected, no longer respected," said Özil about a year after the delicate photo with the autocrat, taken at the height of his election campaign.
He was "racially attacked", "even by politicians and well-known personalities," he said.
Nobody stood by him, everyone “just kept quiet and let it happen”.
That's one part of the truth.
The other is that Özil was only too happy to fall into Erdogan's arms to find something like protection and security.
Özil has owed proof of international class for years
Özil was not known in his career for dealing well with resistance, being able to fight against it.
His former trainer Arsène Wenger once said that Özil was “an artist.
These guys are a bit more sensitive.
They need support and an environment that encourages them to give their best ”.
If this is not the case, that is the opposite, professionals like Özil look for a different audience and a different conductor from whom they can expect applause.
Erdogan became Özil's political patron, Fenerbahce his sporty one.
Istanbul's sports director Emre Belözoglu praised Özil as “one of the greatest stars that has been seen in world football”.
Özil landed on Sunday night in the private jet of club president Ali Koc in Istanbul
Source: dpa / Str
Of course, that's far too high, even for an ex-world champion.
Because the 32-year-old offensive player has failed to prove international class for years.
But a deeply fallen professional like Özil will be happy to hear that, it flatters the battered soul, the scratched ego.
In fact, he made the step to Fenerbahce easier for himself through his tirades in the summer of 2018.
In Turkey he was once resented for opting for the German and against the Turkish national team.
His settlement in the summer of 2018 with almost everything and everyone in Germany increased his reputation in Turkey enormously.
The veneration he is now experiencing on his step to Istanbul is in part the seeds of his anger of yore.
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His time in England was long over anyway, a total of three coaches had no more use for him.
His last game for Arsenal was on March 7th last year, and since then they have been trying more or less at the club not to have to transfer around 400,000 euros to the top earner every week.
In any case, it is noticeable that after seven and a half years there are not many tears after him and the English press is rather cold about the change.
Instead, a teasing of his former teammates Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang became public.
The two let it be known that each would like to have the number ten on Özil's jersey.
It looked like cheerfully staged squabbling on the rest ramp.
Or maybe that's the perspective.
With Özil and Fenerbahce, two unite who draw more from their former reputation than can ultimately still live up to it.
In any case, it feels like an eternity ago that one and the other could set accents.
Özil had his best time at Arsenal in the 2015/2016 season when he was voted best player in the Premier League.
Fenerbahce's last championship title was a long time ago, it was 2014, and the fans feel that it didn't work out again after that, as a shame.
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The liaison is stylized as a wedding in heaven, with a lot of love and even greater expectations.
Better times should come of it, for both of them.
Fenerbahce, for example, picked up a line of text by Turkish pop star Tarkan to announce the change in a tweet: “Come on, let's be day and night”.
Which was chosen wisely, because the refrain ends with: “Come on, let's be happy together.” Most people in Turkey know that. And Özil himself let it be known that “God gave him the chance to wear this jersey as a Fenerbahce fan to wear.
If God willing, I will wear it honorably and do everything I can for the team ”.
But what will it be?
What else is Özil capable of?
And above all: how much ambition does he still have?
When leaving London, the Times etched that Özil had “only shown energy in recent years when it came to supporting his buddy Recep Tayyip Erdogan”.
But now he has to deliver again.
Fenerbahce has tied him to himself for the next three and a half years, but what is desired is a quick remedy to overcome the sporting dreariness to lend esprit at times to honest ideas.
So two stumbled people want to get back on their feet, which in addition to all the political bohei is at least one thing: the most exciting experiment that Turkish football has been offering for a long time.