Mesut Ozil: Arsenal 'agreed buy-back option' with Real Madrid

Madrid negotiated an option which gives them a 48-hour first-option to re-sign Özil should Arsenal agree to sell the German to another Spanish club

Mesut Ozil (Getty)

Real Madrid ensured there was a buy-back clause in the £42.4m deal to sell Mesut Özil to Arsenal in 2013, it is claimed by the Football Leaks website.

The controversial site has proclaimed to lift the lid on a host of the game’s biggest deals in recent weeks, including Anthony Martial’s switch to Manchester United and Gareth Bale’s world-record move to Madrid.

The leaked documents, published on Monday 25 January, reveal the La Liga giants negotiated an option which gives them a 48-hour first-option to re-sign Özil should Arsenal agree to sell the German to another Spanish club.

The clause does not apply if the Gunners agree terms with a club outside of Spain and would naturally require Madrid to match the financial package offered by the original suitors. Similarities have been drawn with the terms Arsenal insisted upon when they sold Cesc Fàbregas to Barcelona in 2011.

Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, resisted the temptation to activate the clause and the Spaniard subsequently joined Chelsea in 2014, where he later won the Premier League title.

Despite not missing out on Champions League qualification for Wenger’s entire stretch in the capital, the final €6m of the instalments is curiously set to be paid in doses of €1m – one for every year they qualify for the European competition.

It is also allegedly revealed that Madrid insisted upon a considerable sell-on clause in Özil’s contract, should he be let go to a Spanish club for more than €50m, stipulating that 33% of the profits go to the Santiago Bernabéu.

The documents were leaked to the website despite the presence of a confidentiality clause stating that any details must not be made public unless agreed with the other party.