In the wake of today’s 3-0 friendly defeat to Chelsea, Arsene Wenger has dismissed stories linking Alexis Sanchez with a move to PSG.
Reports from France suggested the Chilean and his agent met with representatives of the French club in Paris yesterday, and that they were ready to test Arsenal’s mettle with a bid in the region of £70m.
However, the Arsenal manager has been consistent in his message about Sanchez, saying last week that the club had made a decision not to sell him, and today he was equally strident.
“It is only media imagination,” he said after the game. And when asked if it might make a difference that Arsenal would selling him abroad rather than to a Premier League rival, he continued, “No, it doesn’t make any difference.”
So while Alexis might well fancy a change of scenery, it looks increasingly likely that he’ll have to wait at least 12 months before he gets to play elsewhere.
Bravo Arsène.
We can’t sell Alexis to any team at any price. His value to us is irreplaceable. And we’re not losing 50m or 70m. We signed him for 35m and had him for 3 seasons, we’ve made our initial investment back by now and much more.
Surely, finally, we’re taking a leaf out of the Levy transfer notebook (going to wash my mouth out now) Surely, if PSG offer 70m we’re not going to think twice before selling. We can’t look desperate to sell for PR reasons as well as financial ones, and are playing hardball. But, if 70m in now means we don’t have to see Sanchez at a league rival and we invest it in Lemar and/or Mbappe or others it would be a dereliction of duty to turn it down. I don’t understand people who expect a 100% committed Sanchez next season (he’ll… Read more »
“The players wont disappear, they wont get shit overnight. When the bubble bursts, all that will be left is football”
‘Ben Rivers 2017’
Hold that thought. The window closes on August 31st.
If this proves true, and Arsenal stick to their guns (*reaches for coat*), I will be very impressed!
Well Mendy has agreed to join Citeh so Lemar is pretty much out of the question now. We’re going to end up with Mahrez aren’t we? Argh, for a minute there I thought we’d changed.
Prepare to be impressed
I think this makes absolute sense. I don’t care if the club stands to lose 70 million.
I am a fan. Not a businessman in charge of the club.
This tells us that winning is more important than profits. And that’s why we love the game.
plus I think Wenger is thinking who cares if the club lose money, I’m going for it all in my last 2 years! Perhaps a new Wenger, one foot into retirement, rolling the dice and going for it.
I’m torn on this one. I can see why it makes sense for us to sell him abroad this summer. It would ensure he doesn’t go to another PL team on a free next summer and we can use the transfer money to sign someone else. However, no matter how much money we get for him, if we sell him this summer we will be losing a genuinely world class player who has proven that he can change games on his own. We will definitely be weaker without him. So we either have a massive talent in our team next… Read more »
Problem is, we need to get back into the Champs league and we need as much quality as possible in the squad to do that
Also there is always the chance that we will do well and he will resign
Resign or re-sign? Massive difference!
To be honest alexis with no transfer fee will open him up to the whole of Europe not just Man City!
Thank you Jervais, wondering why everybody thinks he’ll go to ManCity when his contract is up… The selection of clubs are huge!
And I’m not sure about the relationship with Pep either. Didn’t Alexis only get rare starts and was eventually sold on by Pep when at Barca?
Exactly – why would he join City? If he feels he will not win the CL with Arsenal, why would he think he could win it with City? Surely he would look to go to a team like Bayern or even PSG.
‘We played 20 years in the Champions League, that’s 17 years before Sanchez arrived and three years with him so he can get us back in there’. The problem is Arsene, elite players don’t want to play to try and qualify for the champions league, they want to play in it and win it. Something we cannot do under your management. This is only going to getting uglier if Alexis stays. Any missed chances or poor play in games and fans will say ‘he doesn’t care’ & will be hostile toward him. He doesn’t want to stay & wont sign… Read more »
This guy is 29 in December. He is at his peak now…going south from here. and remember he will not have rested for the 4 yrs by the time he lands at his next team. The buying teams are not blind to all those issues. Sanchez is also aware that this is his final top performance. Thats why he wants to move so desperately. He will not be the main man at any of those teams which is why he left Barca. It is important to him. Much more than the supposed Champions League claim. How do you leave Barca… Read more »
If he’s going to be on a downward spiral as you put it then why don’t we cash in now? Why pay him 300K a week if he can’t maintain the level that we are paying him? Your argument doesn’t hold up. He knows realistically that he can’t win a league or a champions league with us and that’s why he wants out, I’m not being negative but we have to be honest about it. Also, if he does stay and doesn’t sign a new deal we lose 60 mill we could spend on replacements and he may well phone… Read more »
£60million doesn’t buy you a replacement or even a finished product these days
Pays for two thirds of one though, and the fees will be more next season when we will have to pay 100 percent of the cost from the transfer budget, which isnt going to pay for a replacement on its own lets be honest. Hes good for sure, really good, but he has replaceable qualities as well as irreplaceable ones. Much like cazorla, whos absence led to a change in formation which has made us much stronger.
Good point
If we were to take £60mill now we could only reinvest in in an average player-(Walker£50m Benteke £70m )the rest of the team then begin to think this is a sinking ship and want to go as well.Better to show some backbone
i too feel that this is only going to get uglier . particularly with sanchez childish attitude he shows sometimes . the team will no doubt will be affected by off field incidents like that . if wengers contract saga showed anything to us its that off field issues will clearly affect the the team . but , i also want him to stay because todays game against chelsea showed us that we are hopelessly dependent on sanchez to rescue us . i have no idea what gameplan arsenal actually uses , because at times its almost 11 players who… Read more »
Because sanchez didn’t play when we lost to Chelsea did he?
Hopefully no one knows Arsene’s game plan except Arsenal.
Fever Pitch…Lock up our Captain,deduct points,red card players for wearing an Arsenal shirt…We are still better and even stronger.
Arsenal my club
Arsenal victory through teamwork.
Stop those negative vibes man
Tell that to Paul Pogba and Ibrahimovich
Adequate replacements? Who?
Top of my head? –
Lemar
Mahrez
Dembele
Iheanacho
Maxime Lopez
You forgot Mike.
I thought we were talking about Alexis? This looks like list of replacements for Ox.
Don’t you think selling first is a mistake? Buy top quality now to integrate into the team then, prepare to take the hit if/when it happens.
Anyway Sanchez at 35m has more than paid back the investment made
What no comments about why and how shit we were today?
Nope.
Don’t worry, it was just a friendly. Milan 4 Munich 0
Why would there be? It was a training exercise designed to improve the match fitness of the team and give Wenger an opportunity to look at some young players, and rotate some positions. This is what friendly games are for, unless I’m mistaken and it was actually a game that awarded either 3 points or a trophy?
Because this is about AW rubbishing the media. There are othe places to discuss our meaningless friendly
If he’s not going to find a player in market that is as motivated in field and cost about close to the same as selling, he may hold onto option to keep him. I mean if its 70m for a player but you have to buy a replacement for 50-60m, its a 10m differential (albeit for one season only) but one that could potentially propel us back into the top end. So it has to be weighted for what it is. Alexis IMO should be sold but it is dependent on who we can get. As today showed, Lacazette isn’t… Read more »
Trouble with that idea is the January window and trophies are won in May
Wenger is putting his balls on the line over this. Fair play to him. But he’d better not end up with egg on his face or, worse still, severed balls.
I don’t care what Arsene says, heard it all b4. Sanchez will be sold because it makes financial sense to do so. Also theres no way he would play to the same standard next season if hes leaving on a free at the end. 50/50 challenges playing with niggles and strains wont happen if a big money deal is on table come the end of the season, he would be a fool to run himself into the ground and jeapodise his next move .
He always runs himself into the ground
I don’t agree.
If he half asses it it 110% effects what he gets next year. If he has a shit year the old ‘hes getting to old’ comes up and he def doesn’t make a $400k packet
He might also sign a new deal with Arsenal it’s still a possibility after all he did join us
So far as it stands we need to stick by the decision to keep Alexis.
Good call Arsene proud of you
Wenger’s being smart and playing hardball but the sad truth is that this club is run like a tight ship so I fully expect him to be sold in August if he hasn’t signed. All this chat about how he is 100% staying I think is just to make him sign. He would make an extra £7m by signing improved terms now plus a probable huge signing on fee so if he truly believes he will be forced to sit out the last year of contract then he would be giving up aprox £15m in wages/bonus. That would madness. It… Read more »
I mean even if he should sign a limited extension, I don’t think there will be no suitors for him a season or two down even at 30yrs.
He will still get transferred and the club will still get a sum of money for it (maybe just not 70m…but even so we don’t know how the market will be in a season down)
There’s no risk to him signing a limited extension.
Anyone worries about who plays next to Xhaka? Ramsey is obviously first choice but behind him we need a replacement. Coq can do Xhakas job, Elneny is just meh, jack would have been great but he seems off and Sanyo may miss the season. We seem way to light in midfield when Ramsey is often injured for large parts and we need to have sustained success in ge league to get back into the CL. I always feel midfield is the most important part of the team and we seem light in quality. Kante made he difference for Chelsea and… Read more »
Fabregas unlocked all the doors two seasons ago… for Chelsea’s opponents…
THIS IMO is a big issue because in current selection terms, we are pretty much restricted to 3-4-3 to make the players we have work. We don’t have the player who can retain the ball with impunity for us ala Santi and what he performed for us when fit. IMO Iwobi should be considered. He has the strength and technical abilities plus an eye for the through pass. In which case he will be replicating Ramsey’s function. Thereby we could have Granit or Coquelin as the deeper lying of the pair in deep mid and Ramsey or Iwobi as the… Read more »
I want arsenal to dig their heels for once with alexis and improve the squad. some may call be deluded but I think we have a better chance of winning stuff than man city and his claim of winning the champions league cannot be justified with city.
In the last three years we have won more trophies than city and have done better on the head to head stats, yes it can be argued that they are spending over 200 million this summer but that guarantees nothing as they have been doing exactly the same in the seasons past.
There are no absolutes. All options are on the table Pretty much depends on several factors : 1) How much is the bid for Alexis. 2) How much do we pay for a Lemar or Mahrez as partial replacement for Alexis (the other of course already in pace in Lacazette) If the price of replacement is close to what we are getting for Alexis, we may consider just keeping him and ammortising on his original cost. Much of it could very LIKELY be also posturing byt Wenger and team to extract the best price from his suitors. As I said,… Read more »
Agree but replacement is not enough. We need to go UP the table
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40690701
Interesting article on how PSG can afford to pay 198m for Neymar and how to navigate FFP rules
I think IF PSG buy big on Neymar or even our Alexis, they will be forced to sell some assets.
Whether they can be tempted to off load recently sign Draxler or local lad Rabiot is of course questionable but they will have to make up quite a sum to balance the books to make FFP a little more satisfactory from a PR perspective.
If we could get Draxler and Lemar I don’t think many fans would be overly upset if Sanchez was sold. Can’t see either deal happening though
Sell
Sanchez for £50million
Wilshire £10million
Gibbs £10million
Walcott £20million
Chambers £20million
Total £110 million minimum
Use that and meet Neymar’s buy our clause. Build team around him. Everyone wins 😉
And while we pull it off let’s use all our cash reserves and convince Prince Albert to abandon the luxurious life of Monaco and come enjoy the thrills of living in a condo in London.
We have become Liverpool fans here. Seriously? You are going to sell neyma the dream of playing for us and not barca ? With the wonderful bait of Europa league!
You think I was being serious…
Arsenal fans are obviously not the smartest
Except his buyout is €198 mill and the tax is 50% on buyouts in Spain so nearer €300 mill plus his £500k+ wages….
Plus we don’t spend enough and win enough for him to want to join us, but other than that, sure!
Legend has it that every 13 years, Badass Wenger appears
Big weng has risen from the ashes.
I don’t believe any of the rumors for one second. They seem to be generated by Sanchez’s camp. It was Bayern, then Inter, then it was Man City, and now PSG. Yet, none of those clubs have reached out to Arsenal. Does he want to leave? Yes. But is there a significant interest from any of these clubs? I’m not convinced
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Perhaps Arsene has learned from last season’s will he or won’t he sign distraction and his firm stance on Alexis not being sold will hopefully quash the media rumours and lend stability to the season ahead. Or it could be Arsene’s poker face as he also talked tough before the sales of Cesc & Na$ri. Either way, I like it. No dithering like last season. Alexis stays and just maybe we can get him to sign an extension mid season. Long shot, but Arsene’s been known to pull a rabbit… Read more »
Why don’t we just sell him to PSG but also get Lucas Moura as part of the deal? A player of similar quality who is 4 years younger and maybe a bit quicker across the ground
Personally, after reading the current insanity re: PSG, I hope they go down in a flaming heap and take the likes of ManC with them.
Love The Arsenal, we all do, but this is getting seriously out of hand.
Hold out till mid August. PSG will pay $100 million
Alexis is either going to stay for the season to help us win the Premiership, or he is going to take his giving the ball away stuff out of our club and we win the Premiership by recapturing our ability to complete passing movements.
This is my way of dealing with all this.
Just enjoy the summer folks! 🙂
Arlene has repeatedly put the club’s finances above his own career by selling his praised assets.., he sees the finishing line coming soon and now it all ends.. no more Mr nice guy his reputation is at stake more so then arsenals.. good man arsene
Wenger reminds me of Saddam Hussein’s late henchman, Tariq Aziz. Remember that comical moment during the First Gulf War when Aziz was assuring the TV news crews that “we are slaughtering the Americans” while US tanks were rapidly invading in the background? That’s where we are now with Sanchez. HE IS GOING!
I don’t know whether Le Prof is just completely deluded or just lying (I suspect the latter), but our star player’s departure should be confirmed by this time next week.
It’s so sad that our club has come to this.
I don’t get us fans. When we do sell our tip players we were always blaming wenget for that and now the man doesn’t want to sell and we are here shouting sell sell sell.
I know its not likely, although PSG have the money, but lets say they offer £150 million for Sanchez!!! Do you not think Wenger would sell?
Am I the only one who thinks that Alexis should be sold because we can actually be a stronger TEAM where we do not have to be reliant on one player to pull us out of situations, and where we actually take responsibility as a team? I believe a new outlook is needed.
If we sign Lemar and Mahrez from the Alexis money, I would be more than happy.
I just realised Ozil is the right sided attacking player that Wenger has always dreamed about. The team at the moment is built round him!
70m that would disolve into the club, he wouldnt spend it, Mahrez or Lemar should be signed as extra players from the transfer kitty.