I would consider this to be the first time that Arsene Wenger has finally admitted that there could be a problem with keeping Alexis Sanchez to honour his contract this season. The Chilean has been a shadow of the player he was last year and he has scored one solitary goal since his failed transfer to Man City in the summer.
Just by looking at our League positions and our results so far we can see that this is having a detrimental effect on the team, so surely it is time that Wenger admitted he made a mistake and can try to rectify the problem by getting rid of Alexis for the second half of he season.
When asked about the contract situations of Sanchez and Ozil today, Wenger said: “No decision has been made on that front,”
“Do we let anyone go in January? We’ll have to think about that to see where we stand with them at the end of December.”
From the evidence so far there is little chance of Alexis suddenly becoming the player last year that refused to be left on the bench – and wanted to play and do his best even when he was injured. He is not looking like he is encouraging the other players to try their hardest as he isn’t doing it himself, and the further we fall behind Man City (where he would be on course for a Premier League medal right now if he had got his wish in the summer), the more upset Alexis is likely to be, and even more keen to join the unbeaten League leaders.
And if Alexis is upset, what is the point of keeping him? Le Prof may as well try and get in a keen player and cut out the bad apple in the barrel.
But knowing how stubborn Arsene is, he will refuse to sell him to City just to make a point!
Darren N
Alexis always gives 100% but he needs to conceal his impatience with his teammates a little better. Arsene should not sell him until he can get an adequate replacement. That is not stubbornness but common sense.
I just don’t understand. So many gunners were saying they were happy with wenger keeping Alexis here, happy for him to run his contract, said he was the best chance of us getting back into the top 4. It was always going to head this way….
Wenger, and the board’s handling of the contract situations has been nothing short of shambolic!
It boils down to one very simple element…Arsenal are self-sustaining club, and a major component will always be player sales, especially in today’s inflated market. It’s astounding that Wenger doesn’t recognise this given he has a masters degree in economics. Selling players with only a year left on their contracts, or letting them leave for free, means less, or no money to reinvest into the squad. We could have got around £100 million for Alexis, and Ozil, and now we’ll get nothing. So where will that £100 million come from that would have been used to replace these two players Mr Wenger, and Mr Gazidis?
If we start looking for players after both Ozil & Sanchez left then we will lose the last leverage we have in negotiations. Is one thing to tell players: listen I want you to replace Ozil at Arsenal than saying, alright? How about a career at Arsenal under a coach having one year left of his contract. Only then we will see what it is to be proper fscked.
Ah, I am not worried. We are the Arsenal. Both are 100% leaving on a free at the end of this season to both Manchester clubs. No danger. FML
Let him go and sell the ‘Big Game Coward’ Özil too.
Realistically what big team could they improve x11 wise? Only man u or Chelsea . We should force a sale abroad #damage limitation