Arsenal star Mesut Ozil joins American venture capital fund Class 5 Global as a strategic adviser

Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has started a new career in finance by joining American venture capital fund Class 5 Global.

The 32-year-old midfielder, who is one of Arsenal's biggest earners at £350,000-a-week, is now a strategic adviser at the San Francisco-based company, which attempts to attract venture capital funding for online start-up groups.

Many sports stars are involved in Class 5 Global's start-up investment network, including footballer David Beckham and tennis star Serena Williams.

Ozil revealed in a statement: 'I am excited to shape and work on my post-football career while I am still actively playing football.'

According to the company's managing partner Youcef Oudjidane, Ozil will be giving advice on the future of consumer preferences at Class 5 Global.

The German footballer was already an investor with the American company having been introduced to the company by former Arsenal player Kieran Gibbs earlier in his career.

Ozil has been exiled at the north London club by current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta with the midfielder left out of the Gunners' 25-man Premier League and Europa League squads.

It means the 32-year-old will not play for the club until January at least and his career at Arsenal appears to be over.

Gunners boss Arteta claimed he did all he could to get Ozil performing at his very best at club level, but the 32-year-old did not do enough to make his first-team squad.

'What I can tell you (is) that I tried my best, I tried to give him as many opportunities as I could. And that from my own side, I've been patient, given him opportunities and been fair.

'He's a player that belongs to a football club, he's been a really important player in the last few seasons. I have to respect that, I'm here to make decisions, the best decisions for the team and for the club.

'This is what I try to do and then I have to explain them because people need the reasons and the right answers.

'I just give mine, whether they believe me or agree with me or not, there's nothing I can do.

'But I have to put my decisions, with my heart and with my brain to make the right decisions that I believe are good.'

During his first-team exile at Arsenal, Ozil refused the club's proposition to take a wage cut to help the club move forward amid the coronavirus crisis- demanding more information as to where the money was going.

Ozil also offered to cover the wages of sacked Arsenal employee Jerry Quy, the main inside the club's mascot Gunnersaurus, after he was made redundant due to financial difficulties in the global pandemic.

The 32-year-old's contract expires at the end of the current season and the German is thinking about life after football.

Ozil's former Arsenal team-mate Mathieu Flamini, who was very close friends with the German at the north London club, moved into the scientific industry after his career and is currently a partner at GF Biochemicals.