Arsenal hero Paul Merson believes Mesut Ozil's wage demands means there's little chance of getting him off the books.

Merson has admitted that finding a buyer for Ozil is virtually impossible due to his astronomical wages, despite the club in need of a summer overhaul to become competitive again.

The former Gunners ace told the Daily Star: "Unless Mikel Arteta gets some players in and out of Arsenal this summer this team is going to finish seventh or eighth next season.

"I'm not surprised Mesut Ozil's agent says he's not going anywhere though. Where can he go on that money? If he was on £50,000-a-week everybody would be trying to sign him but because he's on £350,000 everyone hates him.

"Arteta needs to get players out though, and I don't think he'll be too upset that Sokratis says he'll go if he's not playing enough. I like players who are honest like that to be fair to him. It's better than being prepared to just sit around picking up your money.

"Arsenal need to get their wage bill down and get rid of players who don't have a future there. So Sokratis is expendable.

"But I hope Arteta gets to bring in a few too because he hasn't really got his own players there yet.

"He will need a good pre-season and some new signings but I can see progress already even though they went out of the Europa League."