• Transfer News

Arsenal smash club record to sign Mesut Ozil

Arsenal have smashed their transfer record after completing the signing of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for £42.5 million.

Arsenal paid a total of £17.6m for the capture of Jose Reyes in 2004, with the likes of Andrei Arshavin costing a total of £15m and Sylvain Wiltord priced at £13m in the past.

In bringing Ozil to The Emirates, he also becomes the most expensive German footballer of all-time. The midfielder is currently on duty with Joachim Low's Germany squad, and he underwent a medical in Munich with Bayern doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt before signing a five-year contract.

Manager Arsene Wenger told the club's official website: "We are extremely pleased to have signed Mesut Ozil. He is a great player, with proven quality at both club and international level. We have watched and admired him for some time as he has all the attributes I look for in an Arsenal player."

The biggest Wow since Dennis Bergkamp

• With Arsenal fans on a high following the stirring 1-0 win in the North London derby, they could afford some cautious optimism going into transfer deadline day. Despite the joy with which Gooners were able to remind visiting Spurs fans of the score line despite spending no money on Sunday, they all knew that Arsene Wenger had to add to his squad before the end of the window following a frugal summer.
  
  At the final whistle on Sunday, even in the euphoric state that all Arsenal fans were in, most wouldn't have believed that Mesut Ozil would join the club the next day. Despite the rumours and the proclamations about the money available to spend, it just seemed too un-Arsenal-like to actually go out and complete one of these blockbuster transfers.
  
  Click here for more

On completing his medical, Ozil said: "I am thrilled to be joining a club of the stature of Arsenal and am looking forward to playing in the Premier League. It will be great for my own personal development as a player and I am particularly looking forward to working with Arsene Wenger. From our negotiations it is clear the club has huge ambition and I look forward to being part of an exciting future."

Ozil is set to earn £6m-a-year at Arsenal, where he is reunited with former Werder Bremen team-mate Per Mertesacker and fellow Germany international Lukas Podolski.

The deal has made him the most expensive player ever sold by Madrid, breaking the record held by Robinho's £32.5m move to Manchester City in 2008.

He eclipses Bayern Munich's Mario Gotze, who made a £31.4m switch from Borussia Dortmund earlier in the summer, as the most expensive German player ever.

Ozil's move comes at the end of a transfer window which has seen Arsenal frustrated by their failure to land Gonzalo Higuain, who left Real for Napoli, or Luis Suarez, who now appears likely to remain with Liverpool.

Ozil did not feature in the Real side that beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at the weekend, but coach Carlo Ancelotti rejected claims that his omission had been transfer related.

Download ESPN's new UK sport app, a fresh and powerful new way to follow your favourite UK sports news, scores and video.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd