With World Cup winning midfielder Mesut Ozil letting his contract run down to its expiry, and being heavily linked to Manchester United, Arsenal need to find a replacement for him.
Who better for an Ozil replacement then, than a midfielder with Turkish heritage dubbed ‘the new Mesut Ozil’?
According to Turkish outlet Fanatik (via the Daily Star), Arsenal are keen on young Turkish midfielder Yusuf Yazici, who plays for Super Lig side Trabzonspor.
Yazici, 20, was born in Trabzon and came up through the youth ranks at his hometown club, and has progressed so far as to already be a key cog in their engine — he scored six goals and assisted a further 10 in the Super Lig last season and has been compared to Mesut Ozil, who also hails from nothern Turkey.
The Arsenal midfielder was born in Germany and identifies as a German, but has great respect for his Turkish heritage — and although both players are from the country’s northern edge, their paths are separated by over 800 kilometres, as Ozil’s ancestors are from the west of the country and Trabzon is towards Georgia and Armenia in the east.
Mesut Ozil’s contract expires in June 2018 and he is therefore available to talk to other clubs in the January transfer window, and could sign a pre-contract agreement in that time.
