Football
Mattias Karen, Arsenal correspondent 8y

Mesut Ozil's boyhood club eager for him to leave Arsenal

Mesut Ozil's boyhood club would love to see the Arsenal playmaker join Paris Saint-Germain. And Bayern Munich. And any other cash-rich club that can afford his transfer fee.

Rot-Weiss Essen, the German fourth-tier club where Ozil began his career as a teenager, has started a crowd-sourcing campaign to raise money from investors -- promising to repay them with interest using money received from any future transfers involving the star midfielder.

The club want to raise €300,000 through crowd-sourcing website Kickrs for improvements to their youth academy -- hoping to develop "the next Ozil."

But they'll probably need the real Ozil to leave the Emirates in order to pay investors back, as they will use future solidarity payments they receive from deals involving their former players. By Thursday afternoon, they had received more than €21,000.

The small club received €750,000 when Ozil joined Arsenal from Real Madrid in 2013 for €50 million, and so it's no wonder that RWE chairman Michael Welling is urging the Germany star to go out and explore the world a bit more. Preferably by moving to a new country every year.

"We say that for the personal development of Mesut it's very important that he lives a year or two in Paris," Welling joked in the Evening Standard. "He needs to see the art, to experience the French lifestyle and bring his World Cup experience to PSG.

"Mesut has to be in Paris for at least a year. Of course he'll have to go on to Italy, AC Milan would be great. I'm pretty sure Bayern Munich would be a very good target for Mesut after Serie A.

"He's said he wants to play in Istanbul and then, as you know, America is the place to develop your brand, and Mesut is a brand. After that, well China is paying a lot for players, isn't it?"

It's not the first time the club have publicly expressed their hope that Ozil will not remain a Gunner for life. Welling last year promised to buy fans "a round of drinks at the stadium" if Ozil switched clubs again.

He could yet get his wish, even though Arsenal certainly have no plans to sell their biggest star -- who led the Premier League in assists and chances created last season.

Ozil has two years left on his current contract with the Gunners and the club hopes to tie him down to a long-term extension this summer. However, the player pushed back negotiations until after the European Championship and has yet to pen a new a deal.

While Welling's enthusiasm about a possible move by Ozil may not go down well with Gunners fans, he did wish the team well for the coming campaign.

"Arsenal got over Thierry Henry, they'll get over Mesut. I can understand that they're addicted to Mesut; he's committed himself to the club. Being a football fan first I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Arsenal," he told the Standard.

"Even though the Manchester clubs have new coaches and Jurgen Klopp is coaching Liverpool, hopefully Arsenal will be English champions next year.

"Then Mesut can move on to PSG."

And if he doesn't, RWE could have a backup plan as well. They also count Hamburg striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga among their former players and would receive solidarity payments if he's sold as well.

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