Mesut Ozil's time at Arsenal is coming to an end with a strong sense that he could have achieved much more at the club.
His arrival in north London eight years ago offered great promise and looked to be the start of a new era of success for the Gunners.
Arsenal were willing to break their transfer record to land the World Cup winner from Real Madrid in a £42million deal.
But Ozil was not originally on the Gunners' radar, and in fact was not even mentioned in an opening gambit telephone call from super agent Jorge Mendes.
As a report from the Guardian explains, Mendes contacted Arsenal transfer chief Dick Law offering two stars who were up for sale.
Madrid were open to allowing Karim Benzema or Angel Di Maria to leave the club in exchange for a big fee in order to raise cash for their pursuit of Gareth Bale.
Arsenal were particularly interested in Benzema, and Law headed to Spain to negotiate.
It was only once he had met with Madrid representatives that it became clear a deal for the French striker was no longer on the table, but the club were happy to sell Ozil to the Gunners instead.
“We were shocked," Law said.
Ozil was a player Wenger had been an admirer of for some time, and sanctioned the deal to go ahead.
"Over those final four or five days the pieces just began to fall into place,” Law continued. “Any time you do a deal of that magnitude you’re excited. There’s a lot of tension involved but we knew he was going to make us better, and he did.”
While Ozil soon took to the hearts of Arsenal fans, his star quickly faded, more so after he penned a new deal worth £350,000 per week.
Law was at the centre of those contract negotiations, and insisted in a previous interview with Goal that the club were not held to ransom by Ozil's demands.
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"The bottom line was what he was asking for was not just far from what our top salary was, it was significantly further," Law said of Ozil and his agent Dr Erkut Sogut.
"Their strategy was to come in with a number as high as they possibly could and see if we would bite if we were desperate.
"Ironically enough, he signed for what we had offered a year-and-a-half earlier."
Ozil is now expected to complete his move to Fenerbahce by the weekend, after agreeing to terminate his Arsenal contract by mutual consent with six months still left to run.
