LONDON: Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is “hopeful” a solution is close for Mesut Ozil to leave the club, with the midfielder linked with Turkish club Fenerbahce during the January transfer window.

The playmaker has only six months left on his current contract and has not featured for the club since March.

He was not included in the Gunners’ 25-man Premier League squad for the 2020/21 campaign.

Arteta said: “We will decide what is happening in the next few days. A decision has to be made when you have to register or not register players, when you have to play them or not play them all the time.

“We know we have a really important player that is one of key players in the past few seasons for this football club. We had to make a decision, I had to make a decision. I made it. I knew the consequences of it.

“Now we will have to make another one in January and we will just put in the balance what is best thing for the club, what is the best thing for the team and what the intentions of the player are and try to find the right solution.”

Ozil, a World Cup winner with Germany in 2014, won the FA Cup three times during his time in north London, although wasn’t a part of their most recent success under Arteta in August.

He also helped Arsenal reach the final of the 2019 Europa League, where they were heavily beaten by Chelsea.

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