Real Madrid have spoken out in defence of their president, Florentino Perez, after he was accused of trash talking Mesut Ozil.
Spanish newspaper ABC recently published an article in which Perez was alleged to have accused Ozil of staying out late partying, and losing the values he held when he first signed for Los Blancos.
Perez also reportedly suggested that Ozil’s father and agent was greedily demanding an excessive salary increase for his son.
Those two reasons were ostensibly Perez’s ‘explanation’ for why Madrid sold Ozil to Arsenal on transfer deadline day, in one of the more mystifying deals of the window.
As a result of the article, and the rumours in Spanish football circles that Real were seeking to justify Ozil’s sale, Mustapha Ozil had threatened to take Perez to court.
But Madrid have now released a statement flat-out denying that Perez made any such remarks.
"It is thoroughly denied that president Florentino Perez or any other member of the football club has anything to do with the information about the player Ozil that was published in a Spanish newspaper," the statement said.
“The Spanish newspaper, in which the information was published, denies any kind of connection of the aforementioned with the publishing of the story.
“A press release by the newspaper confirmed that no-one from the club made any contact with the paper nor made any statement regarding this issue.
“Real Madrid deeply regrets that those statements, which have nothing to do with the football club, evoked the dad’s reactions, which are at odds with the truth and are totally out of place.
“Real Madrid renews its thanks to Mesut Ozil and wishes him well for the future."
ABCmeanwhile, have apologised for running the initial article.
"From ABC we state that the president of Real Madrid made no interview or statement about this matter," the newspaper said.
"We are sorry if the information published has lead to erroneous interpretations."
