Fener legend revealed: Barcelona wanted to sign Mesut Özil
Mesut Özil once played for Real Madrid. Arch-rivals FC Barcelona made an attempt to sign today’s Fenerbahce star.
FC Barcelona wanted to sign Mesut Özil. Ridvan Dilmen, Fenerbahce legend and today’s football expert, contributed to this Sports digital asserts. He knows that former Barca managing director Eric Abidal called the 2014 world champion. However, Dilmen also stated that Özil wanted to stay at Fenerbahce in order to end his career one day in Istanbul.
Dilmen about Özil: “He could have gone to Qatar”
In an interview with the television broadcaster, Dilmen said that Özil, who has already played for Real Madrid in his career, was in the focus of Real rivals FC Barcelona. “Barcelona wanted to get Mesut Özil. But they had a transfer problem due to Barca’s financial fair play difficulties,” he said.
“I know that Eric Abidal was interested in Mesut and called him because he spoke to me afterwards,” said Dilmen. A proposed deal with the Catalans failed, however: “We couldn’t get a player Barca wanted to transfer and therefore we could not get any result. He could have gone to Qatar but there was one club that really wanted him – and that was Barcelona, ”he said.
“He loves Fenerbahce very much”
Dilmen emphasized that Fenerbahce is an affair of the heart for Özil: “He loves Fenerbahce very much. He has played for Real Madrid and Arsenal but rest assured that this club is just as big for him.”
Mesut Özil scored four goals in ten league games for Fenerbahce this season and contributed one assist.