Stephan Lichtsteiner is on the brink of leaving Arsenal after admitting it would be “very difficult to stay” beyond the Europa League Final.
The 35-year-old defender has started 19 games this season following a free transfer from Juventus last summer.
He signed a one-year deal with the club retaining an option to extend for 12 months. Lichtsteiner is pessimistic about his chances of that being taken and Standard Sport understands the likelihood is he will be released at the end of the month.
“I see it being quite difficult to stay but we are going to see what happens,” he said. “I don’t know anything. The only important thing is the Europa League Final now.
“I really want to win this cup and bring this club back to the top level, back to the Champions League and winning important titles.”
Lichtsteiner was brought in as cover for full-back Hector Bellerin but has seen midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles develop into a useful wing-back and right-sided defender.
Arsenal need to beat Chelsea in Baku to qualify for the Champions League after missing out on a top-four finish. “It is hard,” said Lichtsteiner. “Five weeks ago, we were in the perfect situation. We gave too many easy points in our away games. We were also a little bit unlucky but we have to ask more from ourselves. At the end, of course, with so many games and the Europa League and everything, we lost a bit of energy in the last games.”
