ARSENAL have made a massive breakthrough in Mesut Ozil’s contract talks.
The Gunners are increasingly confident a new £280,000-a-week deal will be struck to keep the German at the Emirates. Ozil wanted £350,000 a week but looks ready to settle for terms that make him the club’s top earner.
The forward’s camp have been speaking to Arsenal while he is on the club’s tour of Australia and China.
Ozil, 28, has a year left on his current deal but the Gunners believe he will commit his future before the new campaign starts.
Whistleblowing website Football Leaks revealed the World Cup-winner, who arrived for £42.5m from Real Madrid in 2013, is on £240,000 a week at the North Londoners at the moment.
Fenerbahce, who Ozil supported as a boy, were interested in taking him to Turkey but some of Europe’s biggest clubs have also been keen.
Ozil’s Arsenal pal Petr Cech insists the squad will benefit from their gruelling tour. That is despite boss Arsene Wenger hitting out at the club’s schedule.
Wenger claimed it was “certainly not” the ideal way to prepare for the season — with his squad working in baking-hot conditions in China and some players struck down by food poisoning.
But he has kept up their intense training and keeper Cech, 35, insists it will pay off.
He said: “We’ve done double sessions here, we keep training as the main purpose is fitness.
“The matches are a good test — in Australia it was more about the offensive game, against Bayern we had to defend. “We need to find a way to keep hydrated and you need to rest as well.
“The more you go on tours, the more people know what to expect so we are ready for it.
“It’s always good when you’ve done the work and have a positive result.”
Cech played in Wednesday’s Shanghai shootout victory against Bayern Munich — next up are Chelsea in Beijing tomorrow.
The former Blues No 1 added: “We had very good facilities in Sydney, very positive facilities in China and it’s been what we need.”
From The Sun
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