There are certain issues and anomalies which, while lingering unresolved inside a football club, can eventually fester to the point of representing a millstone for wider progress.

It was why Sir Alex Ferguson always moved with such ruthless speed to eliminate simmering problems or personalities, often long before the outside world had sensed the danger. It is why it remains hard to imagine West Ham United realising their ambitions without thinking some fairly radical thoughts about their London Stadium home. It is also why Arsenal’s contract renegotiation for Mesut Ozil back in 2018 was among the most spectacularly bad decisions in recent Premier League history.

There was actually a time when Ozil was a polarising figure. His languid style meant that he always had his critics but there was sufficient wider contribution to at least ensure a debate. That period of fevered disagreement about his actual worth has come to represent the glory days in almost seven years at Arsenal.

For the period since he signed his new contract, which was almost two years ago to the day, has been so jaw-droppingly poor that even the biggest Ozil loyalist must accept the pitiful value for money.

The statistics are genuinely extraordinary. In 43 Premier League appearances since January 31, 2018 - when a lucrative contract extension until 2021 was agreed - Ozil has contributed five goals and four assists. That tally of nine direct goal contributions puts him 103rd in the Premier League list, 54 behind Mohamed Salah and more than 30 short of Harry Kane, Sadio Mane, Raheem Sterling, Jamie Vardy or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. As the highest paid player in Arsenal’s history, on a reported £350,000 a week salary, this is exactly the sort of company that Ozil was supposed to keep.