Friday, March 29, 2024

Wenger: City’s withdrawal from Sanchez deal shows Arsenal couldn’t compete

Arsene Wenger says that Manchester City withdrawing from their pursuit of Alexis Sanchez because they weren’t prepared to meet his financial demands shows that Arsenal could not hope to keep the Chilean.

The 29 year old had been made substantial offers by the Gunners, with wages of up to £300,000 on offer, but that wasn’t sufficient to convince him to stay – leaving aside the sporting element of the Chilean’s decision.

Sanchez will be unveiled as Man Utd player in the next 48 hours, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming the other way, and it’s believed he could be earning around £400,000 a week at Old Trafford.

Speaking about the deal today, Wenger said, ““We did what we tried to do and went as far as we could.

“Even Manchester City moved out of it in the end. That tells you we had no chance to give him a contract.”

Wenger was asked if he understood why the Chilean would want to leave, and said, “I understand nothing. I cannot understand anybody wanting to leave Arsenal – but in 30 years of doing transfers you learn a lot about human beings.

“As a professional, it was perhaps his last contract at the top level and an important contract. After that, I accept that because we accepted that we would let him go. After that, we analyse the pros and the cons.

“There is always life. Arsenal Football Club is 130 years old and many big players have left.

“Will it go a bit less good? We will see but there is always life afterwards.”

And he tried to sound a reassuring note about life after Sanchez.

“Let’s not forget that if Alexis Sanchez goes, somebody else will come in who has quality as well,” he said.

“It is not that we are only losing a player, we are gaining a player as well. And we are still active in the transfer market and trying to bring players in.”

Arsenal are expected to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund, after Ivan Gazidis and former Dortmund employee Sven Mislintat travelled to Germany on Sunday to conclude negotiations with the Gabon international.

A bid of £60m is expected and it’s possible that Olivier Giroud could move the other way.

Related articles

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

136 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
SizC

Getting Auba is good but losing Giroud for him will be something beyond stupid!!!

Anonymarse

I’d rather have both but given a choice I’d take Auba

Perhaps this would give us the funds to make a further signing

Giroud isn’t getting the game time he wants either

Too Drunk To Be Offside

While I am excited to see P-E A arrive, I feel Giroud is undervalued. As a 2nd choice striker if he could deliver 15 goals a season that is worth a lot of money in itself. Also P-E A is expected to play wide like Sanchez did and Mikh-tonguetwister will play the Cazorla role in all likelihood. So Giroud is still 2nd choice. Additionally, I will say that this is one transfer window in what seems like a decade that truly seems a positive one. Sanchez sold sure, but Mikh… P-E A arriving would be great. In addition there is… Read more »

Come back to the five \'n\' dime NickyB NickyB

Agreed – good post.

Homer

Good post.
One small caveat; from I’m reading, is appears that Arsenal were not willing to go above 300k/week. City and manyoo were. That’s a big difference and Arsenal doesn’t have the same financial muscle, this is beyond debate.

However, I agree with your point and with Pires; this wasn’t just about the cash.

Joshua

If that was the case, why not go to City, who are clearly ahead of United at this point.

Tony Hall

Quite right,
If he wanted to win trophies he would have gone to City who are streets ahead of Man U and have a manager he get’s on great with. Don’t dress it up any other way, he wanted as much money as he could get for his last big contract, sure he was disallusioned with life at Arsenal but by going to Man U he has chosen money over trophies. If £300,000 is not enough for a player to live on then I fucking despair 🙁

cygan\'sbaldspot

Why aren’t we talking about selling Welbeck and keeping Giroud? crazy

Alphie

Who wants him? What would he add to a team other than pressing well? A top team or a team like ours wanting to regain its status

Gargoyle

He’s got a good pass on him. Too bad he can’t finish to save his life.

assistantref

Because people actually want to buy Giroud.

Toni

I could give you so many thumbs up, my thumb would hurt. He rates almost as low as his former team mate Silvestre.

Sandman

I don’t understand this greater (sentimental) attachment to certain players EMPLOYED by the club we support and are fans of. Why should we sell Ollie just for his well-being but at the expense of the club (discounting his wages, transfer fee etc)?

Besides, OG signed a contract extension only last year knowing full well that 2018 would be a WC year, right? And he is old enough not to be naive….

SizC

It’s not about the players well being or being sentimental. It’s the fact that he gives the team a genuine alternative and adds depth! In the next game, if Laca is off his game, who do you replace him with?

(Whenever Welbz scores, I’m thinking did it go in off his shin or elbow or shoulder. And if he ever scores 2 goals in a game, i should play the lottery, as my odds of winning is more likely)

78/79/80

He comes on, he scores goals. Goals no one else in the team can score and in many cases goals that only a very few could replicate. It would be madness to lose him. We’ve missed him so much in the last month or so since the hamstring. You could easily argue we’d be above the Spuds if he was fit.

WWTC

It just seems to me that we have no concrete plan with our transfers. We are getting Mhiki because that is a player Utd do not want and not because he is in our plans. Mhiki is a good player but I would prefer if Wenger has specific targets identified to beef up the team in the required areas. We need a proper DM first and foremost. If we end up with Mhiki, Ozil, Auba, Jack, Ramsey and Laca does Wenger have a planned formation? The whole thing just seems a bit disjointed in my own opinion.

Inspector norse

We dont need a dm, we had a proper dm and we sold him. What we need is a balance between attack and defence. We need to lay lower on the pitch an not push so many players in front of the ball. That way we will let fewer goals in and score more goals ourselves. Look at the manu game we couldnt score against 10 men in a bus formation but they easily scored 3 goals 3 vs 3, obviously its much easier to play against 3 defenders than 10. Much more space for the attackers, we need to… Read more »

Faisal Narrage

The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
We DO need a DM AND we need to be more defensively sound as a team.

Honestly watching Xhaka carry the most defensive burden of the midfield all season, not sure how anyone can deny we don’t need someone who’s really really good at midfield defensive duties.

Inspector norse

GX is really good at defensive duties, so is elneny and maitland-niles. The coq was excellent at it although somewhat of specialist in that department but as a pure defense minded anchor he was brilliant. What does any of that matter when we expose ourselves to such an degree as we do ? No player can be 2 places at the same time noe one can cover the space of three men. It does not matter how good defensively they are when they are ordered to abondon the area who should be protected, leaving acres of space for opposing team.… Read more »

santori

I’d rather keep Giroud and get Mahrez for the price. We are short on wide creative players and we are short on highly technical players. We are not short on strikers. Also if we have to rotate through Aubameyang and Lacazette, neither will find sufficient time to bed in. And if we play one out of position, it won’t be getting the best out of the player. Mahrez will consider a move to Arsenal as a step up from Leicester. he has publicly stated he wants to be around the capital. COme the summer he will be less available as… Read more »

Fireman Sam

I like Mahrez. Thought he’d be a great fit for Arsenal years ago.

No worries they will want crazy money for him though…60m probably

Chippys chip

Welcome to wengerworld where square pegs WILL fit into round holes and if they dont we will just chuck em away.

Anonymarse

I don’t know I think it’s starting to look like we might be getting our shit together but time will tell.

Pablo Pomreas

Who is the DM we need? Elneny did a good job v palace, kept the ball moving, quickly shifted it to ozil et al. Held his position well etc. I agree an upgrade would be great but who is it? Keeping in mind that the more physical dominant DM figures usually don’t circulate the ball as cleanly as someone like Elneny. No one really stands out for me… any DM names in Europe top leagues that I should be watching?

badaab

Here’s a name I’ve mentioned several times: Marcos llorente from real madrid. He’s not getting game time in the Spanish capital, he’s the right age profile, and he won’t break the bank.

Goons

The Milinkovic lad from Lazio
Looks a top top player

assistantref

Yeah so he’s not gonna come to us, and even if he would, we’re not gonna pay the 60 million + it’d cost.

Sad to have to say that, but both parts are true.

kaius

I mean, we had less than zero chance of signing Auba a couple of months ago. We’re not poor, we just need to manage our resources better.

Can’t wait ’til we have real change at the club and get out of this cycle of inferiority where we assume we have no chance of signing a player from bloody Lazio.

arsened

William Carvalho from Sporting Lisbon. I watched him in the Portugal vs Switzerland qualifier for the World Cup and he bossed the midfield. Strong, fantastic in possession, always played the right pass and Ronaldo seemed very happy to pass to him, which says a lot. Xhaka played the whole 90mins in that match too, and although i dont dislike Xhaka as much as other ppl on this site, i would much rather have Carvalho in the team.

Faisal Narrage

It’s a fair point, but unless you can claim to be a scout or watch every single European game happening every weekend, there’s no possible way you would even know of those types.

That’s what our scouting team is there for. What’s clear is that that “type” of DM hasn’t been on Wenger’s own requirements for years now, in the same way he doesn’t want a physical CB.

craszy+gunner

Yeah having specific targets is great just like targetted Xhaka see how that one turned out…
For a lot of reasons l have stopped trusting arsenal with transfers l will just be about happy that he has more quality than Walcott

But goodness me he was rubbish in front of goal when we played BVB first time round over in Dortmund…he could’ve scored at least 6 goals that day so much quality but terrible in front of goal…..hopefully he has been cured of that sicknesses he reminded me that day of of Hleb

Bob\'s Mexican Cousin

I share the sentiment although any neutral in their right mind wouldn’t blink before deciding for Aubameyang in my opinion. I think the HFB hit the ceiling with us with his Puskas award, we need upgrades all across.

Auba can’t play together with Lacazette? Big clubs rotate top level players, we shouldn’t be scared to do it.

Andrew McC

Would miss the hell out of Giroud but “beyond stupid” is a bit much. He’d be behind both Auba and Lacazette in the pecking order, and he’d probably be looking to leave in the summer anyway.

Yesman

Let me know once you are done with all the complaints about everything.

IamaGoober

My problem(s) with this whole Sanchez saga boils down to the following things; First and foremost the way its been handled, and this moronic idea that we could let him be in this state of ambiguity whilst trying to have a successful league campaign. When we all know he should’ve gone in the summer window. Secondly the fact we have gone back on our word twice. We stated in the summer we weren’t going to sell him, then we had that last minute wobble by trying to get rid of him on the last day. Obviously then once the season… Read more »

Nicholas Wreh-Kamp

The truth always gets ignored…

Rossi88

Not 60 and Giroud. Giroud for all his cons, has alot of pros. Always gives his all. Big goals in big games. And he knows the Prem. Aubameyang is no spring chicken, and I worry can he handle the Prem. Might take him a while to adjust. Does seem a bit like Mkhi and Aubameyang weren’t our first choices. No doubt very good players, and let’s hope they do a good job for us. I’d be gutted if we lost out on Malcom and/or Lemar. We really need a DM and CB of top quality as well. Not average ones.… Read more »

Too Drunk To Be Offside

Giroud has cons!? His handsomeness sure hides them well.

Pooner

I think they meant: “Giroud, for all his considerable beauty, has a lot of pros…”

santori

Giroud has a different set of skills in breaking the door down through congestion.

Both Aubameyand and Lacazette are more counter attacking players which will work well in open spaces.

Problem is we tend to find ourselves more confronted with dense defenses.

We lose Giroud and the nearest thing to him is Welbeck (yes another United reject whom many were excited by his ‘pace’). But he is hardly even a plan C at the moment.

Good planning to you? I don’t think so.

caligunner

Why are you always tearing down a Arsenal player to try to make your point?

Nicholas Wreh-Kamp

Maybe because the point is a valid one.
Honestly, would you accept Welbeck in any of the squads we had in the past?
No disrespect to the player he wirks hard and is unfortunate with injuries but to be frank he does not possess the kind of quality we need.
If he did, he’d still be at UTD.

Eamonn

Still don’t see how we could fit a possible LMAO upfront?
Laca or Aubameyang couldn’t possibly play LW

Anonymarse

It’s worth doing just to make lmao

badaab

Lmao is our defensive stability already.

Greg

In his words “good players can play together ”

And that is the crux of the problem. You can’t just send good players out without tactics and a way to play. Without responsibilities. This is why we continually fail

santori

Square pegs in round holes. Put a player out of his best position doesn’t seem to make any sense when you could get a natural winger already performing well in PL for less money (Mahrez) The only way I see it working is Wenger plays a 2 up top with a diamond four supporting and then the back 4. That in itself has potentially dangers when the fullbacks venture too far forward, we will need to cover behind them as we go narrow. OTOH it could be a fluid style with Ozil at apex of diamond venturing into middle, And… Read more »

Gudang Pelor

Agree! He also said, good player can play anywhere ( in any position ), an idea that l think equally delusional.

Why he keeps reminding us how long hes been managing, or how ling hes been at arenal?

FrenchGooner

Pires thought he was a midfielder until Wenger told him he was way better as a left winger.
Henry and Van Persie were left wingers until Wenger made them great center forwards.
Cazorla was a CAM or winger until Wenger gave him a Pirlo-like role.

I’m sure we can find tons of other proof that Wenger knows a bit about positionning players on the field…

caligunner

I think we are going with a 442? diamond MF and 2 strikers up front?

PFo

Not quite a diamond, I think. More like two playing deeper/central and two “flank” players (Ozil and Mkhitaryan) with a ton of freedom to roam, behind a mobile front pair. Sometimes it will look more like 4-3-3, with Ozil tucking in and Mkhitaryan pushing on, or vice versa. This is my theory, anyway (a bit like 2007-08, with a proper front two in RvP and Adebayor, and Rosicky and Hleb two number 10 types nominally playing “from” the flanks). Should be fun to watch and bad for keeping clean sheets.

TR7

that 2007/08 season was fun till the injuries hit us bad

caligunner

What would the roles be for the FB in this formation if it is a 442 with the 2 deep and 1 on each flank? Are they bombing forward like thy usually do when we had the 4231?

I hope the 2 strikers do alot of defensive work. You are right it if thats how its going to be alot of goals given up.

Why Not

That with the options of 352 diamondy mf as well. I think he will keep rotating formation.

Double98

He has a point.

It’s no good saying… oh we should never have let Sanchez run down his contract… but Wenger couldn’t make him sign an extension.

He’s doing his best to make a silk purse out of this and mkitharian is a Wenger style player.

Let’s hope Sanchez and Pogba fall out and mourinho has to choose between them

Greg

Sell him when he refused the first offer 2 years out. Be in a position of strength

Why have contract offers not been made to ramsey and welbeck? Whether you want them to stay or not they are going in exactly the same direction as Sanchez and the more their value drops

Double98

2 years ago, it sounded like he was about to sell himand get in mkitharian, but united stole him. Are you suggesting that Welbeck has earned a new contract? Or Ramsay? And say you have Welbeck on say 60k a week and you resign him with more than 2 years on his contract. You are going to pay him the extra from that point. Each 20k is a million a year. Each time you renegotiate you pay agent fees. So if you have a player on a 4 year contract and you renew them every two years then over an… Read more »

Greg

No as blogs has clearly said on here. Aw had him all but signed then backed off. Much like mata I guess. Typical aw in the transfer market And yes Ramsey deserves a new contract. He’s scored winning goals in cup finals. With the correct dm he could be superb Welbeck no I don’t want to stay but by increasing his contract length with a reasonable wage rise we protect the value. As much as it pains to say but levy is superb at tying his men down long term and selling at a high price. they got more for… Read more »

santori

Wenger has been poor mollycoddlying certain players and not having sufficient gumption to keep others 1) Szsc. Should have promoted him to number one with Cech pushing him. Instead sold him to Juve when Ospina has more limitations over long run. 2) Gabriel. Instead of retaining the improving and experienced Brazilian, we sell him and rely on two young defenders BEFORE they show return on promise. He keeps Per one season too long when frankly he should have been retired after the FA cup. No fault of Per but Wenger being cheap. 3) Instead of promoting Gnabry when the German… Read more »

caligunner

He probably backed off because Raiola pulled a last minute add on to the deal. lol

PFo

This, a thousand times, this.

caligunner

If Welbeck is making 60-70K right now and we give him new contract for 90-100K? Look how hard it was to sell Walcott. Finding a club willing to buy him for x amound and willing to match his wages? There comes a point where you have to realize its time to move him along then signing him to another contract adn trying to move him.

Easy tiger

And the time is now!!

verstellung

Let’s hope Mou gets a Canker Sore in several inconvenient places.

Nicholas Wreh-Kamp

More likely that sanchez will fall out with Ibrahimovich.
Pogba seems not to be much of an asshole off the pitch.

midgunner

No. Not losing Oli.

Sean

Worried he might want to go, he wants game time in a world cup year and these transfers won’t help his chances of that

santori

Ozil will likely go which is why we are handling Alexis for whatever we can get now…aside from the fact we are so far off pace of United and City anyway.

Do not be surprise when Ozil leaves “for the money” as well.

Our ambition isn’t there.

Mhykitarian is probably being brought in as a band aid hedge against Ramsey eventually succeeding the German.

We are not buying for the better balance of the team. Its PR stuff.

Peter

Alexis was hungry for success, and Arsenal weren’t ambitious enough to give him good enough players to work with. Pires explains it in a French interview today. After losing 10-2 to BM, Alexis wanted to leave. I don’t blame him. He gave us many great moments and for that I’m thankful.

pros

Not true. If that was the case he should has chosen Man City over Man U

Jimbo Jones

And that there is the truth folks…. it’s hard to swallow.

Bobby knows!

Wezza

Is that Bobby that left? (and I love the guy but……)

santori

Exactly. Fans can continue to make themselves feel good casting Alexis or even RVP as villianous traitors but in truth we have failed ourselves because we have not had the gumption to build with sufficient quality around these ‘star players’. They know they can’t keep shouldering everything nor can they take us to where we want on the cheap so they are ready to leave. BOTH RVP and Alexis to their credit only gave us 110% on the pitch. We have failed to even meet our own ambitions in commercial branding. We have fallen off pace and out of top4.… Read more »

Wengers Zip

Fuck i really hope we’re not trading off Giroud, after trading Alexis… that’s not improving the squad….

Shitbird

No, not the HFB.

No.

My heart would break.

Don

‘No chance’ Er we waste enough every week on certain players wages and spent 17m on Perez to only play him in the odd game so I think we could comfortably afford 400k. Bizarre referencing City when it would have cost them an additional 35m in transfer fee

BW9

there’s only 4 or 5 clubs in the world who could “comfortably” afford 400k a week, as you put it. We ain’t one of them. City, United, Barca, Madrid and maybe PSG.

santori

This is the problem with the Mhykitarian deal.

It is forced upon us. Do not for one second think we have choice in the matter.

The agent has us by the balls and he stands to make 10m from the ‘exchange’.

Now we have an older player which IF he does not perform will be on a high wage and difficult to move. He will likely be on our books for four years and we will find it harder to justify incoming again.

Greg

We gave coq more than alli is on at spuds and then sell him at a knock down rate as few clubs can pay those wages. Hes determined to bring back his socialist wage structure no wonder Corbyn loves him

Goonerink

Say coq was on 70k pw and had 2 years left, that’s like 7m right there. 7+12m and we have a fairly decent sum.
I know a replacements will need paying but we have just lost like 250k pw in alexis and theo.
I doubt we will bring anyone else in now as the board would love seeing our wage bill reduced by 3m p/a

dace

well why does he hand out contracts to santi and BFG when they were never likely to play thats 7million there.

Andy Mack

Without knowing what their contracts say you’re making a big guess there.

Jimbo Jones

I wouldn’t want us to spend £400k a week on any player in the world. It’s just obscene when you put it into any sort of context. It was hard enough to justify when 50k a week was the top end. They’re talented professionals dont get me wrong but it’s just sport or entertainment or whatever it is these days. And the short career argument is just b@ll$cks, presuming Alexis works more than say 4 weeks he’s set to live well for life with a bit of sense applied. I don’t want to begrudge anyone getting paid but it’s just… Read more »

caligunner

Just stop it lol

Yeah put it in a sports entertainment that brings in billions context.

Yes he pays high end in taxes, fees to agents and other expectations. Is it alot of money? of course but they do a job that also brings in alot of money.

Jimbo Jones

Yep you’re right but who is it that the clubs ultimately bring the money in from… me and you and other fans that’s who. Whether directly at the grounds or club shops or indirectly via tv companies and sports subscriptions, commercial sponsors, merchandise partners , mobile phone partners and anything that they can sell us. Still it’s everyman who is buying. Perhaps I’m just doing a Wenger and deflecting… I’ll get over it. But. Sh!t we just sold our best player to man Utd and the only thing possibly worse than that would be selling him to Jose Mourinho…. ah… Read more »

pedro

So we buy aub and pay 60 million for him and give him 200 a week…do the math its nonsense….the fact is sanchez wants to compete with a team who are at least willing. Also these players were are they going all play…i mean i don’t see ozil staying either..its so unbalanced not one player can bloody tackle..

Wezza

Err. One minute everybody argues that we dont have a good squad, then people argue when we have too many good players. Having Aub, Miki, Laca, Ozil, Wilshere, Giroud, Ramsey is good even if they can’t all play at the same time

ramgooner

We cannot afford to let Giroud go unless you are talking about Mkhi, Aubameyang+ 2 more offensive signings. Giroud is no plan B. Giroud is Giroud.
Just look at Chelsea post Diego Costa. They are looking at Peter Crouch FFS.

Shonky

Walcott AND Giroud!….oh joy!! It’s finally dawned on Wenger that you’ll never ever win the league with those two.
Sentiment aside, they were never good enough.

Yankee Gooner

Two centurions, with Giroud doing it in 169 games. Nicking a living.

Shonky

Thierry Henry thought so too.

Greg

Arsene, players want to leave arsenal to win the major trophies or to at least be in teams that aspire to win them!

You are just happy to be in the cl, fuck winning it just take the cash

You don’t leave because you wouldn’t last a season anywhere else

gunnerdaremkd

Really ? Man utd was not even close to winning the title since their last time with fergie 2013, in fact we were more close to wining it than them and we finished above them 3 years running if it wasant the europa league and shit teams playing they wouldnt play the CL and they dobt deserve it to ve there also note that alexis will join a team there is 12 points behind tge leadera who was crying to join them whole year. and cime next year with the cunt murinho they will not win the league again let… Read more »

Arsepedant

Excellent summation. Also consider the fact that Sanchez is ALREADY proving a destabilizing influence without even having trained at Man Ure yet – Pogba’s agent (the scummy Raiola) has demanded that his wages be doubled to match Sanchez. Moronho might not have thought this all the way through.

Mike

Finally a comment with common sense.

Cliff Bastin

I still have this tiny hope that Wenger goes “HOW BOUT NO? Have fun trying to win the league with miktyreiron. I want some of the weed you’re smoking because it’s obviously excellent.” 5 mins before the window closes.

Indian Gooner

First of all how many more 48 hours for Alexis to fuck off from here? The thing is I really do like Mkhitaryan. He is so skillfull. Our midfield trio of Mkhi, Ozil and Wilshere could well be mouth watering to watch. So this deal trust me it is not half as bad as the media is making it out to be. Infact it could well turn out to be a daylight robbery if all things go well. Given Mourinho’s moronic antics with De Bruyne, Salah and even Lukaku( not saying he is any good.. just the fact that he… Read more »

Gooner+Sam

So I think this deal is certainly making the best of a bad situation and if we get Auba it’s actually an improvement. However I think it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and that is the manager and the mess we are in as a club. It appears that some in the inner cire realise this and know the managers time is up and this will be the biggest and most important change. I think it’s credit to the decent fans that we have that people difflect and avoid the Wenger shaped issue at the club… Read more »

Jean Ralphio

I just hope HFB stays

santori

We should have not taken the risk and sold Alexis in the summer. Wenger was betting on him pushing us into CL but the issues in the squad are bigger than Alexis can shoulder. Recent let goes of Gabriel, Szsc and Coquelin do not help and many systemic issues are yet to be resolved never mind buying more strikers. Like RVP, I don’t think Alexis is convinced Wenger can take it to the next level. In fact if anything is proving him right (as RVP) we have started to slip off our minimum standard. This season was suppose to correct… Read more »

Ricardo

A response of “I understand nothing” to a question about Leaving Arsenal, is why the second half of Arsene’s reign has been poor in comparison to his first.

He was an innovator when he arrived, now he’s just yesterday’s man. Literally.

Bobby

We are not selling our best player too. Mesut is

Andy Mack

It became clear that Alexis wasn’t just interested in silverware when Bayern announced that they couldn’t pay the salary he was asking for.
If it was just about ‘ambition’ then he’d go there knowing he’d get some silver every year.

Wezza

exactly, it’s purely about money. If you want to win things and City and Bayern come for you you dont tell them to sod off and sign for Yanited. If we had won the CL and the Prem (I know, I know) Sanchez would still be going because we can’t give him a £30mil signing on fee and give him £400k a week. Sanchez is a very good player but he thinks he’s on the level of Messi, Ronaldo, Henry, Bergkamp, Iniesta, – and he isn’t. I think those guys rate themselves by their contribution to the team, Sanchez by… Read more »

Garrett Gaspard

I have a problem with letting Giroud go, at least out of the strikers left at Arsenal, he produces. Getting rid of others would be my choice first. Giroud will still be the only striker to offer a holding role. Players his size are few and far and they are direct game changers. As far as Sanchez goes he is not the type of individual to keep around a team. Bellerin would also be my next to send off.

Garrett Gaspard

What people need to understand, this also has to be up to Giroud if he is involved in this agreement since he is still under contract he could scupper the deal. So it also has to be in Giroud best interest as well.

loose_cannon

Let’s not pretend he’s just gone for the money though, we were probably offering him more than City in the summer and he was still wanted out. We need to examine our approach to football on and off the pitch as it’s clearly not conducive to challenging for the prem

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Wenger is right. Look, the man is a mercenary, simple as that.

santori

I expect with Aubameyang, we have to try and accommodate both Lacazette and him in some sort of 2 up top. We need to get the best out of them. It may be they work as a pivot each taking turns to drop deep or go wide respectively left or right. I suppose behind them we have a midfield diamond (certainly looked like what Wenger was working on against Palace with Ozil given a free role and probably Mhykitarian and Jack working either side taking turns to push forward into centre or drop to help the DM. Granit probably at… Read more »

Twatsloch

Good riddance!

Welcome Henrikh! Hope you’ll like it here.

santori

So… ……………….Aubameyang………………Lacazette…………………. …………………………………..Ozil…………………………………….. ………….Jack………………………………………..Mhykitarian…….. …………………………………Granit……………………………………. Kolasinac………………………………………………………….Bellerin ……………………..Mustafi……………….Koscielny…………………. ………………………………..Cech……………………………………… alternates : ………………..(Giroud)………………………Welbeck…………………. ………………………………….Rambo…………………………………… ………….Iwobi…………………………………………Reiss…………… ………………………………….Elneny………………………………….. Monreal………………………………………………………………..AMN ……………………Holding……………………Chambers……………… …………………………………..Ospina…………………………………. mix and match of course. Maybe Mhkitarian could be use in an Arteta/Santi role in lieu of Granit. Ramsey can cover deeper too. AMN covers both flanks and emergency mid only. Toss up between Monreal and Kolasinac. I’d play the latter bc he is the future but the former is such a good player right now. If GIroud goes we are a bit short up top. Maybe Eddie gets a nod (again risky as we don’t have the physical player Giroud gives beyond… Read more »

Bobby\'s Ewing

Sanchez is not a team man and I would not be surprised if him going brings the group together. He was amazing don’t get me wrong but there may be a silver lining in his departure, Good business to get Mhiki and lets hope he thrives under a more attack minded coach. COYG

215Arse

Ok AW, but..Money aside, he’s been unhappy with our feeble attempts to build a proper squad that is able to challenge for titles. Sanchez’s on field antics have been going on for a few years, especially when we fail to show up when we should be winning matches against crap sides. Ultimately, like RvP, Cesc, and others he’s leaving because he wants to win. Bottom line.

Time for change. Yawn.

Dark Hei

If the only way we are going to get Aubameyang is to let Giroud go, then I think is it is a no brainier.
Wenger will probably use some funky lop-sided 4-2-3-1 to get Aubameyang and Lacazette in the same lineup.
BTW, Giroud is 33; he is great but like Wenger, he ain’t spring chickens on the relative scale anymore.
If we are gonna rebuild, might as well go through with it and not be half hearted.

David Hillier\'s luggage

He’s 31. Until he becomes 32…

Henry\'s Statue

I’ve been following this blog for a long time, always reading the divided opinions. We all love AFC, I’m sure, that’s the reason for so much emotion, but let’s all not forget to reason……at this point I don’t even think winning a PL title will be enough, we have slowly been driven by sensationalist media headlines and commercialized punditry to serial whiners, nothing is enough. There’s so much stupid money in football, oligarchs came in, oil sheikhs came in, heck, COUNTRIES came in….and here we are, biting each other on social blogs….a lot of footballers are quite immature, scummy agents… Read more »

Henry\'s Statue

And I understand a lot of fams hate AW, everything he says just invokes hostile responses, even if he speaks sense, let’s not throw away reason

GunnerYY

Dont forget about Ozil, it looks like his contract saga swallowed by Sanchez but at the end of the day it’s still unclear wether he will sign or not, a payrise would do but dont forget to sign another good CB and DM so our forward’s talent don’t go to waste and we for once could challenge the PL again. If this season we out of top4 i hope we will sign a new manager that will learn his mistake and sort out our defensive problem

Mootilated

To be honest, now that i know how much money alexis wanted. I’m glad he’s gone and even if we got nobody in return except a couple of million I still wouldn’t mind. 400k a week? Fuck the fuck off. Even City aren’t stupid enough to pay those wages. Seems like United have a thing for paying aging players overinflated wages.

Merlin\'s Panini

We can’t compete with United financially or on the field at the moment and that is the real worry. I hope Mkhitaryan rediscovers his Dortmund form with us. He could be fantastic. I wouldn’t want to lose Giroud but Aubameyang has a couple of years on him and is a good enough player to adapt his game when he loses his pace. If it came down to the swap being necessary I would take it but then I think we would need one more to come in having sold Walcott as well. Like many I would prefer Welbeck leaves than… Read more »

Bai Blagoi

“I understand nothing. I cannot understand anybody wanting to leave Arsenal”

Priceless!!

BiggerPicture

Wenger will for the rest of his life keep making up excuses for being an incompetent manager.

Homer

Perhaps there is an English football club with a “competent” manager in your eyes? Maybe follow them instead of Arsenal and you’d be happier.

ronaldo

sanchez wanted to get away from arsenal because we were crap, not because of the money, that’s the bottom line, that’s the same reason why ozil wants to go, except wenger will give ozil what he wants, that’s why in this mornings arseblog they we wont have any more money for signings because wenger is holding all the money for ozil,s demands, what wenger says about sanchez is just another excuse

Mootilated

oh yeah? then why did he decide to change his mind last minute when United came knocking and offered him the wages he wanted? come on, man.

ronaldo

city lost interest

alek

hey Giroud, Giroud – whatever will be will be -the future’s not ours to see , hey Giroud , Giroud ! 🙂

Gox

The problem is that City tried buying a player like Sanchez this summer and now, with the squad they have. Arsenal would never even think about it, so few injuries, lack of form and we’re where we are.

Cas

Soon a top club will sign Mahrez and we’ll be wondering why we never went for him?

Hermitian

We should go for him – he’s proved he’s a special talent. Lets not forget that we lost Chamberlain, and haven’t replaced him yet.

Andy Mack

I was really pleased with this outcome but one thing worries me, Merson said he likes Mick O’Ryan as well and that’s really confused me.
Usually if Merson says something then we know as fact that the opposite is true… Help!

CLEGooner

“I understand nothing. I cannot understand anybody wanting to leave Arsenal”

Ask RVP and Cesc. Cuz they want to win shit.

Mathius

Sanchez didn’t just leave for the money, he wants to win major trophies as well. We won’t be able to offer that while we have a parasite for an owner.

Stuck on repeat...

I think Wenger is wrong about Sanchez (possibly deliberately). The start of his desire to move was ambition not wages. This has been added to by him not participating in the World Cup this summer. AFC don’t look competitive in anything this season. City also pulled out as it made no sense to enter a bidding price war, on a player that could still potentially be available for free in a couple of months….plus they never really actually needed him. A lot of spin going on at AFC

Wezza

Guys people leave for kinds of reasons. Overmars and Petit left when we were a very very good team. Vieira and Cole left when we had just gone unbeaten.
It just happens.
People gave us shit for trying to sell Mustafi last year. It turns out it was his wife who desperately wanted out of London.
There are all kinds of reasons

theLowCrows

“I understand nothing. I cannot understand anybody wanting to leave Arsenal – but in 30 years of doing transfers you learn a lot about human beings.” He speaks the truth here; at the moment, he understands nothing. In his learnings over 30 years if he still can’t figure out why players have left Arsenal to seek better opportunities, we’re set to lose Ozil too and get our hand bitten off in that deal as well. While I do credit Wenger for bringing quality players to Arsenal, keeping them there has never been his strong suit because even with world class… Read more »

Share article

Featured on NewsNow

Support Arseblog

Latest posts

Latest Arsecast

136
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x