Mesut Özil has been banned from the Fenerbahce Istanbul first team

At the weekend, he was still leading the Fenerbahce team into the last league game against Konyaspor as captain. Today the club announced that Mesut Özil has been dropped from the first team. What is behind this action is not yet completely clear.

Fenerbahce were 0-1 down at home after the first half in their duel with Konyaspor. Coach Kartal decided to substitute Mesut Özil and it seems he did the right thing. Fenerbahce turned the game around in the second half when Dimitros Pelkas, who had just replaced Özil, scored the decisive goal to make it 2:1.

Club president Ali Koc had previously announced that Özil was not happy with the playing load at the club. He would have liked to play more, but coach Kartal was not completely satisfied with his performance. He is said to be more focused on his commercial interests than the game.

Still, Özil has been the team’s main pivot this season. He has already managed to score eight goals in the league and added more in European Cups. Only striker Serdar Dursun is better in terms of league goals with nine.

The former German international played for Arsenal before joining Fenerbahce. He left the latter last year after the midfielder had a falling out with current Gunners coach Mikel Arteta.

The Spanish coach demanded things from the player that Özil was unable to comply with, which is why he did not play a single competitive minute for the Gunners from March 2020 until his departure.

The Turkish club also announced that midfielder Ozan Tufan has been excluded from the first-team squad. He was sent on loan to Watford at the start of the season. He then returned to his parent club in February.

Sky Sports, Fenerbahce