Mesut Ozil and Fenerbahce part company

"Our club and Mesut Ozil have mutually agreed to end the contract," Fenerbahce announced on Twitter on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old midfielder and the club are separating with two years of his deal still to run. He joined the Istanbul side less than a year and a half ago but has been excluded from the first team since the end of March following a dispute. And new manager Jorge Jesus made it clear he would not rush to overturn that decision when he took up the post at the beginning of June.

A few days earlier Ozil had suggested he wanted to see out the rest of his playing days at the club. "I will not end my career anywhere but at Fenerbahce", he posted on social media.

Turkish media suggest Ozil is in talks with another Istanbul club, Basakehir, domestic champions in 2020. Ozil arrived at Fenerbahce in January 2021 from Arsenal, where he had been excluded from the Gunners' Premier League and Europa League squads that season. His last game for the London club was March 2020. Ozil joined Arsenal from Real Madrid in 2013 and lifted the FA Cup on three occasions under then-coach Arsene Wenger.

The 2014 Germany World Cup winner of Turkish origins ended his international career after what he described as "racist" attacks following the holders' first-round exit at the 2018 World Cup. He had come in for strong criticism in Germany after posing for a photograph with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2018.

Erdogan was also the best man at the player's wedding in Turkey. Fenerbahce were runners-up to Trabzonspor in the Super Lig last season with their last league title back in 2014.