Arsene Wenger has ruled out the possibility of Alexis Sanchez moving to Man City in January, even if the league leaders make an approach for him.
He was wanted by Pep Guardiola during the summer, and might have left towards the end of the window had the Gunners been able to secure the signing of Thomas Lemar from Monaco.
In the end, he stayed, and has struggled to really recapture his best form since, although he had an outstanding display in the last away game at Goodison Park.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash in Manchester, Wenger said, “You say everybody thinks City will come in for Alexis in January – I am part of everybody and I don’t think he will go,” he said.
“Do City need him? They have to decide that. But we need him here.”
And the Frenchman is hoping that his star man can use the big stage to ignite his campaign.
“I expect him to be motivated against City but that is always the case,” he continued.
“One thing you cannot fault in Alexis Sanchez is his motivation. When he plays for Chile, he plays with passion that is in South America. It’s the same for Barcelona and Arsenal. He is happy when he is on the pitch and that is all he wants.
“Was he close to joining City? No. But at the end of the day, close or not does not matter.
“It does not have any influence. What is important is that, when you are somewhere and you have the opportunity to give your best, that is what you must do.”
Unless we get an offer at 11.45pm on the 31st right?
Then will come the obligatory last minute £300m bid for Harry Kane to show we ‘meant business’.
Good, we need him.
Alexis will leave if city make a decent offer. Wenger needs to stop posturing. I hope we don’t get smashed on Sunday
He’s posturing so we don’t get taken to the cleaners on a lowball offer. Keep the Jedi mind tricks flowing Arsene.
its better to get something, than NOTHING
They will offer much lower than they did in the summer so there is no way he will sell him in Jan.
They’re not the only team in for him, so they don’t get to dictate the price. More fool them if they try to.
lol, I don’t know why the thumbs down, as you are right in what you say, I think that they are in deniail
boom
2-1 Alexis to score a brace
…and come Jan 1 those oil sheikhs are gonna whip out their chequebooks to buy the Premier League title
As opposed to the Yank and his family who are going to sleep their way to the bank and Europa.
Despite what negativity we may have against the sheikhs, super rich investors/owners are everywhere. What matters is what we see on the field.
City have assembled a very exciting team to watch for their fans and they even tried to add Sanchez!
It’s not the sheikhs’ fault we try as hard not to build a competitive team. If their strengthening is buying the league then does our perennial under strengthening amount to selling the league?
Got to agree. We have a sugar-daddy owner who just refuses to pump any of his money but at the end of the day, we are no more healthier than City. The same goes for Chelsea. I, for one, am happy to see City play beautifully and walk the title if it means I can see the c*nt Mourinho walk with his *** between his tails. Atleast that would put the argument to bed on Pep being better. Both had unlimited money, but only one team is exciting to watch. PS : I want City to lose a game though,… Read more »
We have wealthy owners, not a ‘sugar-daddy’.
He would only be a ‘sugar-daddy’ if he threw the money around.
But he doesn’t, so he isn’t.
Absent sugar-daddy?
Maybe a ‘sugar mama’ could be applied here- apart from the fact that Stan is A Man- and a silent one,indeed..
Completely agree. It’s sad though that we (myself included) are already considering a scenario whereby which we have a preference on who will win the league. The level of mediocrity at this club hurts so bad, so so so bad!
Why don’t you go support City then?
Despite all the pain and immense suffering thru the years, I for one am proud of the Arsenal way – a club which grow its legacy/values over a long period of time, with a first class academy program that create stars instead of buying them, and can still sustainably compete among the elites.
Has anyone ever wondered what’s going to happen with the City, Chelsea, PSGs of the world when the mega-rich decides that soccer just ain’t cutting it for them anymore?
Yes, I think most wondered that for quite a while but I also think the penny has dropped for most of us by now that the mega rich owners are going nowhere. The disintegration of FFP Rules more or less confirmed it.
@Dinobot…..A club which fleeces the fans with the highest ticket prices in England, Europe and possibly the world? A club with an owner who takes money out of the club for “financial advisory services?”. Or a club which lies to its fans because the board are over-run with a load of clowns?? Get real we all love the club and support the club and want them to succeed! And whilst being proud of how we “develop top players” through our academy programmes, how many of them stay at this club and see out their careers? Compare that to those who… Read more »
well said! Football clubs will always be owned by rich men, better to have one who invests and has some ambition.
Wow no reference to the social contract
At least he isn’t saying how he thinks he will stay and sign a new deal anymore
Trying to fire him up for the weekend.
If the right offer came in in Jan…for sure we would sell.
Right offer or not, we are selling him. Any offer that City/PSG throw in would be considered right. I am looking at ~30 Million and a promising youngster moving the other way.
And to all the down voters, let us not be delusional. We have no chance at the title, and with Liverpool and Chelsea wobbling, it will be a battle for fourth which I think we will manage to hang on to considering we field a different 11 in the Europa League.
We can at least use the Alexis money to buy someone next summer. If Alexis walks free in the summer, imagine Gazidis saying we got to be frugal since we lost a lot in the form of Alexis and Ozil. That would drive me NUTS!
Already down playing our ability to clinch 4th place by putting it down to Chelsea and Pool wobbling eh? We play the same 18 teams they play, it’s not down to them wobbling if we finish ahead of them it’s down to us performing better than them across 38 games. I hate this we don’t do well unless the other team bottles it nonsense. I tell you if we turned the season around and somehow won fans like you would say it was because the other teams gave up on it, probably you’d say they had pity on us and… Read more »
Yeah right, and fans like you would just say you knew we would rip the league apart all along!
Get a perspective, we are mediocre and we nowhere near good enough to being better than City, United or (hate to say it) Sp*rs! We got hammered at Liverpool who are pissing around punch drunk drawing and losing to less than mediocre teams. So we end up finishing above Chelsea or Liverpool, it was not because we blitzkrieged our way, but rather they wobbled BIG freaking TIME.
And the delusional aspect of fans like you who think we will turn every f*cking season around after we bottle it in August every f*cking year is precisely why sane fans like me turn insane.
And don’t even get me started on the seasonal February explosion only to start trying harder in April, which was precisely too late last year for once.
Lighten up a bit bud.
Sorry, but starting every season with the certain knowledge that your team will let you down is a position reserved for the spuds.
They’ve had any expectation of success ground out of them over the decades.
Clubs, poayers and the press used to bully us when we didn’t have the money.
Now that we finally got the money they bully us more.
lol, you mean stans got the money
This club now feels so much like a mid table team trying to keep their players from higher teams from the same league… It’s sad that we’ve come to this. And for so long as the yanker owns us.
Should go back to playing youth until our owner starts spending some of that £ in the bank
lol, I said that a couple of days ago, and I got about fifty thumbs down, funny how some fans react
He should have left
I had a dream the game ended 6-6 but stopped watching the game at 6-2. Even in my dreams Arsenal piss me off.
“Was he close to joining City? No”
But we know this isn’t true.
It depends on your definition of ‘close’.
I believe they made an offer which would have been accepted if we could have sorted a replacement, but it didn’t happen, so we didn’t accept the offer.
Is that ‘Close’?
I’m a Texan who loves football and Arsenal. For all our many faults, American sports don’t have the sugar daddy problem because we have salary caps. In fact, managing the cap becomes a very interesting part of the game. Is a cap just impossible in football? Maybe so, but IMHO Arsenal would have a big advantage under a cap as we have always done it the right way and the juiced sides would be taken aback. Never happen I guess but we should be pushing for it behind the scenes.
I like the cap and the trade pick system where the bottom teams get the first picks. Though the American leagues are closed (no promotions or degradations) which makes it possible to have this kind of system
I always find this so interesting in America. It’s the land of free capitalism and anti-regulation sentiment, but in your sports that salary cap regulation helps maintain a competitive playing field. Agree it works well in America, trouble here would be to get all the clubs to agree to such a change.
Umm the MLB has no cap and the richest just about always win. Otherwise you point is solid
No cap in MLB, but still better, in that sense, than the approach in football. Astros and Royals are recent examples of not very rich teams winning the whole thing.
But I thought the highest paid American sports stars earned way more than footballers (especially basketball and American football)? Is it just a ludicrously high cap?
Yes, the caps are very high (NFL 2017 = $167 mil, NBA 2017 ~ 90-113 mil). The best paid stars make big money, but I’m sure guys like Ronaldo and Messi are earning more. MLB generally has the highest salaries, because they don’t have a cap, and the player’s union is the strongest.
There’s insane money in American sports. That’s why rich people are always trying to turn Americans on to football. If you can get even a small percentage of the market, you’re still going to get stinking rich.
We aren’t good at managing the finances we do have. Christ we over pay crap players. We still are. Arsene and his beloved socialist wage structure fucked us for a long time
Ozil is good but not worth anywhere near double j his current salary. Ox was offered a ridiculous amount all the attempt to save aw’s face. The most damming info is ox left for less money
To a team who have been less successful for the best part of the last three decades, for a ridiculous sum of money despite being in the last year of his contract.
We just got lucky. Karma for the Suarez fiasco.
yeah, but its got NOTHING to do with YOU, you don’t have control of alex
‘You know when that hotline bling, that can only mean one thing…
Ever since I left for City yoouuuu..’
You just know Pep’s been on them late night phone calls to Alexis already! Bet ya!
Here’s too a monstrous bid from Bayern!! (Or atletico, Dortmund, AC Milan who cares really!)
Or…SIGN DA TING ALEXIS!!!! Please????
AW is kidding himself if he doesn’t think Alexis will be affected by playing against the team he wanted/wants to join. B.S. he will still play with all the enthusiasm. It should be that he will try his best, but that is not the reality. He is a human, not a machine, besides he shows he doesn’t want to be part of the Arsenal family. It’s a shame we gave away a talented player that had Arsenal in his heart. SZCZESNY!,and want to keep a player that is so self centered.
He is saying he might not go to Direct rivals in Premier league, he might go to our second home which is Allianz arena or at Real Madrid who will have cash to burn.