Charlie Nicholas has described Mesut Ozil situation at Arsenal as a ‘tremendously sad story’ and believes it is time the midfielder left the club.
The 30-year-old has been with Arsenal since joining from Real Madrid in a £42.5m deal in 2013, but has mixed brilliance with disappointing performances as he has failed to deliver on a consistent basis.
Ozil’s Arsenal career reached a new low when he was substituted for teenager Joe Willock during their 4-1 Europa League final defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday night, sitting despondent in the dugout for the remainder of the game.
The German is the club’s highest earner on a reported £350,000-a-week, and former Arsenal forward Nicholas believes now is the time for the club to cut their losses on the playmaker.
“It’s a tremendously sad story because he’s a seriously a talented footballer. But talented footballers in the modern game, there is no passenger allowed,” Nicholas told Sky Sports News.
“He sacrifices a bit of his game to help other people but it’s not working because some of the players don’t get what he’s about. The sad story is he’s not done it on big nights and occasions.
“Clubs in Turkey and China would be interested. How’s he going to let go of 300k a week? I don’t think it’s all about the wages, I think he wants to be loved and treated like he’s a star, he isn’t that star at Arsenal it’s time to say fare well.”
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