Arsenal news: 'It's time for the club to bid farewell to Mesut Ozil', says Gunners icon

What's the story?

Following Arsenal's collapse in the Europa League final against Chelsea on Wednesday night, Gunners icon Charlie Nicholas admitted that it is time for the club to bid farewell to midfielder Mesut Ozil.

In case you didn't know

Arsenal succumbed to an embarrassing 4-1 defeat to their London rivals in the Europa League final at Baku, squandering their ultimate chance to get back to playing Champions League football.

Chelsea's victory was more advantageous to Maurizio Sarri than it was to the club itself, who had already secured their place in Europe's elite competition with a top-four finish in the Premier League.

The Gunners, who were given several opportunities to surpass their rivals to the top four, finished at fifth place.

Ozil, who continues to be a divisive figure at the Emirates, did little to help his side at Baku and capped off yet another disappointing season as a Gunner.

The heart of the matter

Nicholas has called Ozil's situation at Arsenal a 'tremendously sad story', as a lot of the playmaker's teammates do not understand what he is about.

Speaking on Sky Sports, the former Arsenal forward said (via Goal), "It’s a tremendously sad story because he’s a seriously talented footballer. But talented footballers, like everything else in the modern game, there is no passenger allowed in a team."

"He sometimes sacrifices a bit of his game to assist other people and help other people, but it’s not working because some of the players he is working with don’t quite get what he is about."

"The sad story is that he hasn’t done it. He just simply hasn’t done it on the big nights, on the big occasion."

"I don’t think it’s all about the wage for Ozil, I think he wants to be loved and treated as if he’s a star. He isn’t a star anymore at Arsenal. It’s time to say farewell."

What's next?

Arsenal will once again be competing in the Europa League next season, with little financial backing to help them with reinforcements this summer. The Gunners will return to action in a club friendly against Colorado in July.