Arsene Wenger has dropped another hint that he’s planning on staying at Arsenal, and said that the club have a big job to do when it comes to Alexis Sanchez.
The Chilean has been linked with a host of clubs after a brilliant season, and heading into the final year of his contract speculation is rife that he might be on the move this summer.
Once again though, the Arsenal manager reiterated the club’s progression from one that sold its best players, to one that could conceivably keep a star like Sanchez without having to cash in.
However, he admitted there was a lot of work to do to secure his top scorer’s future.
“We have nobody at the end of their contract so that will be completely our decision,” he said.
“Therefore, I just believe that we, the club, have a big job to do during the summer because you want to keep players like Alexis and end all the speculation that could happen.
“Alexis is not at the end of his contract. I would just like to remind you that the end of his contract is 2018.
“I guided this club for years with very limited resources where we had to sell all our best players, always. So today the club is in a much stronger position.”
Reports from Germany this week had linked Sanchez to Bayern Munich, but via Sport Witness comes news from Bild who say that Arsenal are ready to offer him £16m per year (£300,000+ per week), far in excess of what the Bundesliga giants are prepared to pay.
You’d take that with a pinch of salt, in fairness, but if we want to keep him we will have to push the boat out.
Let’s see.
If you wish to keep Sanchez, keep Özil.
Interesting point. Get Özil to sign first, announce a big name signing, then go try to convince Alexis we mean business.
Agree. I take Alexis at face value: I think he really does prefer to win trophies and prove himself at the very pinncle of football, and money is probably a secondary consideration, so I believe that it is just as important to show ambition in the transfer market as it is to double his wages.
In fact, I think we need to be throwing £70m+ at Juve for Dybala, or more at BVB for Aubameyang. Rodriguez might be a cheaper alternative. Someone to make him sit up and take note.
Do you honestly believe that even with the right players – Wenger can bring us a trophy ?
I dont.
The discussion is about Sanchez.
I think if we had a team like the one we had in 2003/4 I could manage it and win trophies
Another interesting question is whether it’s worth trying to put a reasonable release clause in his contract, which kicks in only if we fail to make CL again next year. Ordinarily the club would be against that sort of thing, and for good reason, as it puts you in a very vulnerable position, but in this case, it might be the only way that we get him to sign: give us one more year, on truly massive wages, and at the end he knows he can leave if we don’t get CL.
Clive you are spot on!
Seems like that’s the sort of thing it will take
Agreed. The odds on keeping both increase greatly if Özil signs up, and I do think he sounds as if he wants to stay. Getting the Ox to extend will help, too. Sends the right message.
Also, Alexis is enjoying being in London, and we’re not going to sell him to a rival. I wonder how much the money really matters to him? His agent, of course, will want a pot of gold; but Alexis himself, I suspect, wants more than anything to be appreciated (whatever that takes).
Ozil is a luxury player goes missing when things get tough
That is a weird observation that sounds exactly like the bull you hear from journos who have it in for Ozil.
did u actually watch him this season? He had a good start then his form dipped a lot!
So did everyone else’s (even Alexis’s form dipped).
“Luxury player,” used pejoratively like this, is a ridiculously old-fashioned, small-minded label anyway. The truly big clubs are luxury clubs who can afford–because they’re so damned good all over the pitch–to use “luxury players” like our German to add the creative, skillful icing on the cake in the final third. If we aspire to compete with the big boys, we need luxury players.
And in that good start, he was great against all the teams. Didn’t go missing against Chelsea for instance. His form dipped when the whole team started playing crap. He is not like Alexis who, despite the whole team playing horribly, can produce a moment that can turn the game on its head. He needs the system to be working properly. What we need is the system to be working properly and not crumble like it did agains Everton or City or Byern.
Ozil will truly thrive then and you’ll be singing his songs again.
Looks like one of those daya when all we want to hear is praise.
Yeah, he doesnt run around enough…..hah
Oh please man, if you really know a lot about football you will know that Ozil is a world class player and his body language is what you people are judging him on. I think we need better players around him and this is Ozil best goal scoring season so yeah it’s time for you to really learn about soccer. Form is temporary Class is permanent.
Is he gone already?
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/premier-league/arsenal-forward-alexis-sanchez-listed-as-bayern-munich-player-as-chile-release-confederations-cup-squad/ar-BBBtvJk?li=AA572I&ocid=ientp
Don’t believe everything you read especially from lying press
I agree, there is lots of rubbish about.
However the graphic in the article looks real to me.
I quite agree with you Martin. The media are trying very hard to make decisions for us. Especially on the stories of when Alexis and Ozil are still making up their minds about leaving. I think and have always said they want to stay. We have heard Arsene say that the club have the wages they want, but the decisions always have to be with the those “upstairs”. If Arsenal do win on Saturday what will their decisions be. In my mind I would love to see them win and have a compete overhaul on the situation upstairs. But most… Read more »
Not possible, he’s still under contract to Arsenal.
offer him good money with a clause allowing him to leave if we don’t get CL qualification and a bonus if we get CL qualification
honestly, he isint signing the contract because arsenal doesnt qualified for champions league or for more money , he just wants to win some trophies
Alexis is the sort of guy who’d be playing football for a pittance. It’s glory which attracts him, not money. And there’s small chance of obtaining that with this deluded has-been of a manager and cunt of an owner, so he’s gone for sure. May as well just resign ourselves to it now.
Oh my… Sanchez the saint (mind you, I love Sanchez, this is just for the comment) and everyone else is the devil. didn’t know that we lived in Utopia.
Let’s just pay him what he wants but we have to be careful. This is not a good time to lose top players because other top players will not be motivated. It’s one thing to miss out of the Champions League, it’s another to lose your top players.
Both players will be very hard to replace. Don’t want to pursue the spurs approach of replacing big players by just signing lots of mediocre ones
The money is going to be a factor, but I think he’s a player that’s more interested in trophies. Sign up Ozil, get a big name striker, show him the ambition he’s looking for
Alexis still has a long way to go to be the best in the PL. His style of play stands out because of his ability to dribble which very few players at our club have. FFS Kane and Lukaku scored more than Alexis this season. Aguero who is out injured most of the time is not far behind. The only good thing with Alexis is his assist stats are better than his peers. On the other hand, keeping Ozil is absolutely essential as he is integral to the way we play and his ability to bring others into the game… Read more »
Alexis was leading that herd until Monsieur decided to push our leading goalscorer to the wings at the expense of Girou.
umm…Alexis wasn’t our sole striker like Lukaku and Kane are in their clubs. Plus, he added 10 assists this season. Please tell me how this isn’t MVP worthy.
I’m not even mentioning his non stop motor.
Mate, are you not comparing him with strikers? Apples and oranges?
It’s not apples and oranges. At Arsenal Alexis is given the freedom to do whatever he wants on the pitch. So, my comparison isn’t far fetched. It’s the same when he plays for Chile. He loves the ball and he always likes being involved in the play. He may not be a CF but he is a Striker. I’m not saying he isn’t MVP worthy, I want him to be the highest paid player at this club but where was Bayern/Psg when Barca let him go. We bought Alexis and made him a Super star at Arsenal. I’d like to… Read more »
I nay he missing the point but we don’t need to “sign” either of them – we already have. What we need to do is to renegotiate and extend their contracts before expiry in 2018. Just conceivable a fast start in Sugust would go a long way to help with that.
You guys do realize that it’s not only about the financial side for Alexis (he is a multi millionaire), but it’s also about football. The man loves football and loves to win, his ambition is to win everything – Cups, Champions League and league titles. He won’t win CL (can’t) or PL next year at Arsenal, let’s be real. We can’t compete with Chelsea or Bayern in terms of squad depth or overall quality (and ambition, internally our club is fucked). I am a life long Arsenal fan but I am not in denial about him wanting better, he really… Read more »
I guarantee you if Ozil, Sanchez and wenger signed new contracts during the season, wed be playing champions league football next season. The hostile atmosphere would have been nowhere near as bad around the place if we had some clarity on 3 of the major people at the club.
Can only blame the people in charge for all three of those calamtous fuck ups. We might not all like him, but i guarantee if Usmanov had any input at all the ink would of been dry long before this point.
More like a bucket of salt.
I don’t see us paying 300k salary. And rightfully so, 300k is insanely inflated
Absolutely. But if you can’t beat them…
Buying an equivalent player would cost a great deal more
Both Ozil and Sanchez are at the age when this could be their last big contract in Europe (obviously they could retire to China/USA) so the decision they have to make is they could stay in a team that is going through a turbulent and uncertain period or potentially join a team that is competing at the highest level next season.
Chelsea and Manu missed champs league this season and both had no problwms recruiting last summer and keeping thier stars.
I think the Champs League carrot is important but moreso is the ambition of the club. The club has to advertise its ambition… that ambition begins with paying our big 2 the $$ they deserve. Then players will see the opportunity at Arsenal even without CL action in 2017/18.
This.
It comes down to the money and the money your willing to pay the agents. That’s it. You notice the two big players ManU bought last year had the same agent. Mino Raiola. The two biggest agents in football are the fat Italian and Ronaldo’s Portugese agent. Arsenal (Wenger) doesn’t want to pay these guys big money. So those types of players don’t come here. Guarantee that if we paid a loyalty signing bonus to Alexis and his agent they would sign tomorrow. Man City pays it, ManU post Ferguson pays it, Chelski pays it etc… Barca and Real obviously… Read more »
No time like the present crack on!
Alexis is leaving…no two ways about it. It’s a no brainer really – Bayern, city, Juve and maybe PSG are all interested in him. Why should he stay?? We don’t have ucl football, we aren’t willing to pay him over the odds and most especially we haven’t shown the ambition to challenge for trophies. Alexis is 29 and wants to win titles. He’s leaving. Simple as that.
He will stay because he has a contract up to 2018
I will believe it when he sign the contract.
Is “doing a big job” with Sanchez the best way to get him to commit to a new contract ?
Sounds messy.
Ridiculous that he still persists with the ‘he still has one year left.’ Like were going to let him go on a free next year! All of the other top clubs in Europe tie up their stars continually on deals, and you rarely see the most important players get to the last year of their contract. Ozil and Sanchez should have been offered new deals after their second season, not as they go into their last year where other clubs come sniffing.
Has he had a brilliant season? I mean by his standards. Better than most yes and crucial at times but he’s hardly performed to his usual standard, has he?
Did you notice the change by Wenger he went from ” we will not sell Sanchez ” to ” nobody at the end of their contract so that will be our decision.” IMO it appears Sanchez will be a goner and not a gooner. Wenger is now trying to get maximum $$ in order to offset the cost of a replacement.
“I guided this club for years with very limited resources where we had to sell all our best players, always. So today the club is in a much stronger position.” Wondering about this quote. A bit of a fib, no? It seems over the yrs the narrative has changed. Did we really have to sell Fabregas, Van Persie, to lesser extent NAsri, Adebayor because of money? We sold them because they were agitating for a move, to play with clubs with a better chances of winning. It’s not like we were shopping them around because we couldn’t afford to keep… Read more »
I think possibly you’re splitting hairs here. They were agitating for a move because of the financial reality of Arsenal at the time. Oh, and the little boy’s dream in case of Van Persie of course.
I suppose. I just don’t remember transfer money, wage limitations being thrown around as justifications at the time by either side (s). But it wouldn’t have been in the players’ interest to appear money hungry instead of glory seeking, or for Arsenal to admit they needed the cash/couldn’t afford to pay them to balance the books.
Hope we keep Sanchez, but after watching Ozil every single match this season I can say just sell him while he’s got value, absolute invisible player when he’s needed.
I get what your saying but remember these things: 1. Other plays love playing with Ozil. Ronaldo was furious that he was sold from Real. Obviously got over it once he looked in the mirror but if other players want to play with him than there is something there. 2. He has won 4 of the last 5 German player of the year awards. They don’t give those out to chumps. 3. Players have their roles. Ozil needs a controlling defense behind him and a finisher in front of him. He will take care of the rest. Cazorla being out… Read more »
£300k a week for a guy that never gets injured seems much better value than having a bunch of guys on £100k/week who routinely have stop start seasons and even when fit aren’t even close to Sanchez’s level.
And £300k/week for Sanchez should help the pay structure rather than jeapordise it – how many other players can seriously say they are half or a third as valuable as he is to the team
I think the new formation is not as efficient with Ozil out wide. If we are to continue with this formation (3-4-3), we need a player like Riyah Mahrez who is a true wide player.
Just thinking