Arsenal midfielder, Mesut Ozil has paid more than €2 million (£1.67m) in back tax in Spain and is disputing a €790,000 fine, according to documents supplied to Der Spiegel by Football Leaks.
This is coming on the heels of the Gunners’UEFA Champions League clash tonight at away against FC Basel.
The Der Spiegel report says that, at the time of Ozil’s transfer from Werder Bremen to Real Madrid in 2010, his then agent Reza Fazeli received a €1.2m payment from the Spanish side in two instalments.
It said his new agent, Erkut Sogut, was paid €1.47m for the player’s 2013 switch from Real to Arsenal, and that in both cases the Germany international should have paid his agents.
Because he did not do so, the Spanish tax authorities assessed it as payment in kind for Ozil on which he should have paid tax.
After 18 months of investigations the Germany international was reportedly ordered to pay €2.017m in back tax in February, with the fine following a month later.
