In one of the more unusual departures of the transfer window, the free transfer of Arsenal mascot Gunnersaurus has been met with dismay by Mesut Ozil.
The club mascot, played by Jerry Quy, was let go from the club yesterday in the latest in a host of cost-cutting measures.
German international Ozil tweeted that he would cover the costs of Quy's wages at the club, out of a salary that reportedly stands at around £350,000 per week.
I was so sad that Jerry Quy aka our famous & loyal mascot @Gunnersaurus and integral part of our club was being made redundant after 27 years. As such, I’m offering to reimburse @Arsenal with the full salary of our big green guy as long as I will be an Arsenal player... pic.twitter.com/IfWN38x62z
— Mesut Özil (@M10) October 6, 2020
The move is not the first cost-cutting measure at Arsenal, as the club made 55 employees redundant in August of this year.
Mesut Ozil & Gunnersaurus
It was poor public relations on behalf of the club that the announcement over their mascot was made on the same day they spent £45m on Atletico Madrid's Thomas Partey.
The Gunners met the Ghanaian international's release clause at Atletico Madrid, paving the way for him to sign a long-term deal at the Emirates.
It's reported Partey will earn £260,000 (€286,000) a week at Arsenal, across four seasons. The 27-year old will also trouser a £2.5million (€2.75m) signing bonus.
As part of the deal, Lucas Torreira will spend the rest of the season on loan at Atletico.
The Rojiblancos confirmed that Arsenal deposited Partey's release clause with La Liga at 10.28pm on Monday night, and that he's signed up until June 30 2023.
He had completed his medical in Spain.
Partey's signing completes a busy transfer window for Mikel Arteta, who also added Willian (free from Chelsea), Gabriel Magalhães (€30million from Lille) and Runar Alex Runarsson (€2million from Dijon) to his squad.
Loan deals for Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares were also made permanent, while Dani Ceballos committed to another year in North London.
Heading out the Emirates exit before Torreira was Matteo Guendouzi. He'll spend the rest of this season on loan at Hertha Berlin.
Partey won't even meet his new teammates until after the international break. From Madrid, he's joining up with the rest of the Ghana squad ahead of this week's friendlies with Mali and Qatar.
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