Fenerbahce has asked their fans to make donations to help them pay Mesut Ozil’s £3.5m-a-year salary.
The German is joining the Turkish side from Arsenal after being frozen out of the Gunners’ first team.
The midfielder has reached an agreement with Arsenal to terminate his £18m-a-year salary. He will now turn out for the club he supported as a boy until 2024.
Mail Sport says Fener is already £460 million in debt, but they are confident that the German’s move will be able to fund itself with the commercial appeal that he brings.
The club’s president, Ali Koc has now asked their fans to break the SMS record by sending an SMS that will help them fund his move.
The campaign has been named ‘Mesutol campaign’ and each message will set the fans back by £2.
Koc announced as quoted by Mail Sport: ‘We have a request for our fans. Please continue to support us, we are also dependent on your financial support.
‘On the day of the signature, I will ask you to break a record. With an SMS campaign.
‘Maybe 300,000, 500,000 or maybe even a million text messages come together. This support will do us very good.’
The Turkish league is less glamourous than the likes of the Bundesliga, La Liga and the Premier League that Ozil has played in, but the German will still look to show that he isn’t finished yet when he starts playing again.