The longest-serving Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger says both Mesut Ozil and the Gunners are abusing each other in terms of the game following the player's lack of playing time yet is on a lucrative weekly wage which is affecting the club’s finances.

The German was signed by Wenger for a then club-record fee of £42.4m in 2013 and signed a five-year deal. He extended the deal until 2021 estimated to receive $24 million annually. It’s been seven years now since the 29-year old kicked a ball for the Gunners, with his name left out of the Europa League squad for the 2020/21 season.

The player has disclosed to see out the rest of his contract in its final years yet Arsenal prefers to terminate it due to the financial constraint of the global pandemic affecting clubs.

Arsene Wenger, who currently is serving as an overseer of the global development of the game at FIFA in an interview with BBC Sport about the past, the present and the future disclosed that both parties are not doing the best to help each other.

The 70-year-old upheld that transition in the modern game is not favouring the German yet the Premier League club could find a way to get him involved; a style to benefit both parties.

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“I feel it is a waste for him (Ozil).

“Firstly because he's in the years where a player of his talent can produce the most. And it's a waste for the club as well because he's a super talent, a creative talent that in the final third can create that killer pass.

“The way football is going at the moment it's quick counter-pressing, quick transitions and everybody plays the same. It's kicked out players like Ozil. Although let's not forget who this guy is. A world champion who has played at Real Madrid.

He's been the record player of assists, so you have to find a way to get him involved again.

Unai Emery took the role of the former Gunners boss who spent 22 years managing the top English club. A year later, Emery’s attitude on the field of play was not influencing games hence his sack for Mikel Arteta. Wenger has expressed that the Gunners job is in the right hands yet time is of the essence for his delivery.

“Yes. He has the ingredients to be a very good manager, a top manager, but many of my former players had these ingredients. We have to give them time, let them do their job in the way they want to do it.

“He's intelligent, he has big passion and a strong character. And I believe he's surrounding himself with the right people,” he added.