Former Arsenal star Mesut Ozil is set for a career switch to eSports when he hangs up his football boots, according to the ex-Germany international's agent.
The veteran attacking midfielder has found himself frozen out at current club Fenerbahce, with questions lingering over whether he has a future with the Super Lig side.
Quite where the 33-year-old will head next after several unhappy seasons, stretching back to the end of his tenure with the Gunners, remains up in the air - but according to agent Dr Erkut Sogut, there may be a place for Ozil to go professional in the world of eSports instead.
Could Ozil make the move into eSports from football?
"He will go more into eSports, play himself and maybe become an eSports athlete,” Sogut claimed of his client in an interview with The Telegraph.
"He’s really good, to be honest, at Fortnite and I think one day I wouldn’t be surprised if he is competing.
"He owns a team – M10 Esports – and he has players. He has a gaming house in Germany. He has football, like FIFA, and Fortnite."
Does Ozil have regrets over his Arsenal departure?
The former World Cup winner's eight-year star at the Emirates Stadium came to something of a protracted, messy conclusion, with Ozil dropped out of the senior squad amid both his proactive political stance and reports that he was unfocused on club commitments.
But the player has no regrets, per Sogut, who adds: “No, not at all. He loved his time at Arsenal but it didn’t end as you would wish as a player. It happens to so many players. [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang had to leave as well. This is football and it’s business as well. People come and go in your club."
On Ozil's political actions, Sogut pointed to Arsenal's own subsequent involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement and protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine as signs of progress, though not without a trace of frustration over how they handled their former star.
"They were a club that was always neutral in terms of political things but they are not neutral any more, right? They gave it up," he added. "They can't just stay neutral in certain situations. Now they have spoken up with Ukraine. They are now taking a position as a club.
"Now they’re outspoken about issues in the world which when it was Mesut they said: ‘We don't want to discuss things like that’. But it was a development I think for them as well as a club that things are changing and they have to adapt as well."
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