Arsene Wenger says that Arsenal will be the ones to decide the future of Alexis Sanchez, and has hinted that the club will keep him in the final year of his deal even if he doesn’t commit to new terms.
The Chilean will have one more season on his current contract this summer, but as yet has not come to an agreement over an extension.
The Arsenal manager was asked if the current climate, with talk of bust-ups etc, might be a precursor to the 28 year old deparing the Emirates this summer, he sounded bullish.
“Alexis has 15 months of his contract,” he said, “so the decision of will he be here or not will depend completely on Arsenal Football Club and not on anybody else.”
He was pressed about the impact and behaviour of Sanchez, but insisted that it more to do with the collective than any individual.
“It’s about the team performance, not individuals,” he said. “It’s a team sport and the most important thing is that we focus on our collective.
“Our game is built on collective expression. That is the most important thing, that we focus on what’s important and not the individual.
“Alexis played in all the games and when we didn’t perform away from home, we lost as well. We lost at City, United and Chelsea, and that’s what I think is the most important thing, to focus and produce as a team.
“All the rest, his attitude – he’s a committed player and sometimes has excessive behaviours but you have that many times in the history of every squad.”
Of course we’ve been in situations like this before, where high value players with 12 months left on their contracts are told they’ll have to see them out, but then sold.
We’ve seen it happen with Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, and it also occurred with Samir Nasri who thought he was great after a period of 4 months when he played consistently well.
What a c*nt Samir Nasri was/is
You after the record number of thumbs up?
What a cunt RVP was
equally as cunty as each other.
We are fucked
This is the end of the world
and fuck you , if you think Im exaggerating
We really do not need players who don’t want to be here. No matter how good they are.
If he wants to go, let him go…
This kind of thinking will ruin the club. The guy wants to be at the club and wants to be paid what he is worth to the team. Imagine when he see Walcott earning 100K a week, what he must think. Sanchez is 5 times the player Walcott and almost anyone else on the team is, and wants to be paid what he deserves. I don’t think that means he doesn’t want to be there. Frankly if there is one person who has fought for the shirt more than anyone else, then it is Sanchez. I don’t think a player… Read more »
Seriously, pay the man. He’s world class and we need him. Imagine this team without him. Average…what am I saying. We’re barely average with him!
The team is Average with him. If he left the team wud be even worse. Sure he will be replaced, but if he weren’t this team would struggle to finish top 7.
Exactly. So not only do we need to sign him, we need to sign another top player, even two top players to really challenge. Unfortunately, the chances of that are so unrealistic. Depressing.
Do you really think all of his poor attitude expression is due to a pay disagreement? If it were that would be even worse.
Pay is one thing – no disagreements there, he’s worth a lot on the pitch. But that is clearly not the only issue here.
I dont have a problem with the original post. If a player wants to go, let them go. Fuck em. Whether its about salary, about the team, about London being a cold shitty place, or if they just want to goto Barca… let them go. They will play better if their heart and passion is for the Arsenal!
Obviously though a fair price must be agreed.
I think your missing the point Sheffield goon, the bloke works his nuts off and is truly world class, we saw how poor we was without him against liverpool , the guy isn’t perfect but he’s a winner. sure its partly about money but i would guess its equally about wanting to win trophies with him. It suits some fans narative to blame him and make him the bad guy as we all know this isn’t going to end well for Arsenal, but this situation even if true is not down to Sanchez, its down to the malaise that exists… Read more »
No, I agree with you. He’s a very good player indeed and works hard. I still believe he loses the ball too often to be genuinely world class, but I certainly don’t wish to tarnish him as a bad guy. I’d like nothing more than for him to stay.
But if we can’t sort things out, then he needs to go. We can’t cope mentally as it is, without adding internal strife to the list.
I think if a player isn’t happy at a club then there’s no point staying. Doesn’t matter if you’re Debuchy or Sanchez.
We need puppies, blogs. You promised that we’ll be able to compete on puppies front with all the Bayerns, Barcas and Reals and now what? #puppiesIN
But Mr. Wenger we didn’t lose at United, or did we?
think he meant Pool, losing it.
He is a true warrior and “the only failure is not trying” line is clearly a dig at most of his teamates.
…& in all fairness he does have a point.
Or the board for not trying harder to keep him???
We didn’t lose at United? If this man has any decency left he will step aside give someone else a chance.
Yep. That’s what happens when losing to big sides becomes a way of life. So pathetic what we’ve become
I love Sanchez but seeing him so unhappy makes me feel so bad for the guy. Wenger should just let him go. Not like we going to achieve anything with or without him.
Sanchez ran .Sanchez huffed and puffed.Sanchez scored .Sanchez got frustrated.Sanchez is a world class player.Sanchez won Copa America.Sanchez best Messi Argentina.Sanchez is good.Sanchez lobes puppies.I like Sanchez .
So Arsenal can’t give Sanchez 250k a wk?
Wenger and Arsenal policies are just funny.
“Alexis has 15 months of his contract,” he said, “so the decision of will he be here or not will depend completely on Arsenal Football Club and not on anybody else.”
Fantasy. Sorry, but if he wants out at the end of the season, he’ll go.
Either that, or AW is quietly acknowledging that at the end of the season there will be a new manager who will be making the call…
Regardless of who the manager is, there is zero chance the owner will let a £60m asset leave for nothing in a year’s time. Zero chance.
Have to at least try to keep the bidding price up.
The decision will be solely Arsenal’s.
We will start quickly.
Spot the odd one out.
Neither. They are both patent bollocks.
We’ve heard this nonsense from AW so many times before,
Someone with Alexis’ character won’t waste his prime on this kind of mediocrity.
Had enough of this Sanchez saga. Alexis ‘s dog! Sanchez this ! Sanchez that. Alexis in a bust up… Sanchez is no Bergkamp. Thanks for the Fa cups and goodbye. Arsenal will survive Alexis Sanchez departure. We need to reboot the whole set up of AFC. It is more urgent that Alexis prima donna tantrums! Sell him. He wants to go. When you want to stay you don’t do fight with your teammates.Even when the going gets tough. You act as a leader.And he wont find a team in which he is going to be the superstar like he is… Read more »
Just a squad player that has been a top scorer with Barcelona and now with Arsenal?
I have to disagree with you
Replaceable with Lukkaku, Reus, Lacazette or Gabbiadini (you heard it here first). And that’s not even really thinking bout it.
I think Sanchez walks into almost any starting 11 in Europe. I can’t even imagine what he would accomplish in the Bayern lineup. And if you think all teammates get along like best friends your crazy. every team Has eleven individuals with unique personalities and different temperaments. Their is conflict and arguing. Its the managers job to hold the reins steady.
Sometimes its out of the manager’s hands. The club may have tabled an attractive enough offer but we know that there are 6 to 7 clubs that can be competitive. If the player does not feel his ambitions will be realised at Arsenal, there’s very little we can do. It sounds like Alexis does not feel the rest of the team can measure up to his efforts. Wenger may have had no choice but to have benched him because he felt Alexis may not have been in the right frame of mind. Of course, we know the team is very… Read more »
Wenger has denied there is any significant bust up by Alexis.
Me thinks the boss may be trying to take one for the team but if so, hopefully, we can at least reap some benefit of Alexis till/should he decide to move on end of the season.
On that note, I can’t see how this situation will be any more or less difficult for Wenger to deal with than Conte simply because he has been there longer. If anything the younger manager will have more credibility issues because he is just trying to shoe in to the job. This sort of argument is utter trite. Wenger has been there and done it. I’m sure each individual player will come with his own set of idiosyncracies. If the player is showing recalcitrance, well no one is bigger than the squad even if he is the most important player… Read more »
There will always be a club willing to outbid us wages; at what level do we say “No, that’s too much”. To just write a blank cheque to keep a player puts immense pressure on every other contract negotiation. If we look to get more “world class players”, we will be stretched over the barrel to ensure they too get maximum levels. Rest assured the board will use that to push up season ticket prices rather than use extra from tv money. Long term contracts require higher wages, but the only benefit to the club is the higher transfer fee… Read more »
I think you have to have a mixture of both stars and squad players. Stars are important they win games and put asses in the stands. But you also have to have a system in place to build around. Some stars will fit the system and tactics being used and many will not. But you can’t win championships and trophies with just squad and rotation players. You need he players that command the high salaries and make you ask out loud how did they do that?
If you look at arsenal right now he is the best player and committed player we have Please pay him what he wants
A thought I shared with some Arsenal America folks:
What if Arsene Wenger dropped Alexis not because of a bust up, not because of tactics for that game, but to prove a point to the board to offer Alexis more money to get a contract tied down….
Who knows? We’ll add that as theory 17,s2.III,b ?
Full reasons will only be known when the people move on/write their autobiographies.
What a dream it was; what a nightmare it has become.
Get well soon, Arsenal.
Absolute madness to think we could experience what happened with Van Persie again, we let him get into his last “15 months” of his contract and rather than making him see it out wenger Sold him to our rivals and rather than keeping him he sold him. Just like hell let our BEST player go to city or even Chelsea. Ridiculous now.
Who do we reckon his bust up was with..?
Senior player..?
Koscielny, Mertesacker,?
Who exactly are our senior players now….
I wouldn’t personally think Ramsey Gibbs Ox are so called seniors….
Alexix will not play against Bayern. The lineup Giroud up, Welbz & Ox on the flanks, Iwobi in no 10, midfield duo of Xhaka & Ramsey. Back 4 same as last and of course GK is Ospina.
With team harmony restores, and no prima donna, and everyone ln same wavelength…we got a slim chmace to put up a good fight.
If it is true that Alexis and indeed Ozil don’t want to be at Arsenal, then I wouldn’t want them at Arsenal. Move them on, if that’s the case. I would rather finish 10th with a group that wanted to be there for every game.