World Cup-winner Ozil saves Arsenal's dinosaur mascot from extinction

Amid multi-million dollar transfer deals happening in European professional soccer this week, English Premier League team Arsenal's decision to make their dinosaur mascot redundant sparked a public outcry and prompted their German midfielder Mesut Ozil to step in and pay his wages.

Gunnersaurus, as the character is known, faced extinction after it was revealed that the man under the costume had been released as part of cost-cutting measures.

Jerry Quy has played the role of the dinosaur since 1993.But with stadiums empty during the novel coronavirus crisis, he was to be let go.

In a social media post, Ozil said: "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…"

Ozil joined Arsenal in 2013, but his contract is due to lapse at the end of this season. His current salary is believed to be around 350,000 pounds ($453,000) a week. He is the highest-paid player in Arsenal's history.

Ozil, a World Cup winner with Germany in 2014, has not made any appearances for Arsenal since March after falling out of favor with the club's manager, Mikel Arteta, and was not selected for this season's Europa League squad.

Former club owner and now radio pundit Simon Jordan called Ozil's move a self-serving publicity stunt and believes the player would "jump on any cause" to make Arsenal look bad.

Fans have set up a GoFundMe page titled "Save Gunnersaurus "that has already raised more than 11,500 pounds.

The mascot has even received job offers. In a social media post, Shrek's Adventure, an amusement show in London, told the mascot it was hiring, and the animal rights group PETA UK reached out too.

The organization sent a letter to Arteta, offering to hire the dinosaur until stadiums reopen. The group intends to use Gunnersaurus to help promote vegan food.

The club's move to axe the cuddly icon even drew comment from the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer.

A spokesman for the Labour leader told the Evening Standard newspaper: "Keir is a passionate supporter of Arsenal and he was disappointed by the club's decision.

"Keir believes people will take a dim view of clubs that are spending millions of pounds on transfers on the same day they are making hardworking staff redundant."

An Arsenal club statement insisted Gunnersaurus is not in fact extinct and will return when fans are allowed back inside stadiums.

Arsenal announced in August that it was planning to cut 55 jobs due to the damaging effect of pandemic on the club's finances.

The club said its main sources of income had all been hit, including broadcast revenue, match-day takings and commercial activity.