Arsenal won't move forward until Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil leave the club, according to Gunners legend Martin Keown.
The wantaway pair are set to run down their contracts and leave on free transfers in the summer, although there remains the unlikely possibility that they could move for a cut-price fee in January.
Manchester City remain interested in Sanchez, while Ozil has been linked with Barcelona.
And Keown feels that it is now in the best interests of Arsenal to move on without their star duo.
"I am sure Arsene Wenger will look back on this period as one of the most difficult in his managerial career," he wrote in the Daily Mail.
"He knows he needs Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil until the end of the season to get Arsenal back in the Champions League. There is little use selling them in January for a reduced fee only to strengthen a rival.
"But he has had to cajole performances from them while not upsetting the rest of the group. Arsenal are only a point off the top four but you wonder where they would be had these two been fully committed for the whole season.
"Wenger puts so much trust in his players but Sanchez and Ozil have been overindulged.
"Only once they leave can Arsenal draw a line under this issue."