Alan Shearer has claimed that Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Arsene Wenger should no longer be at Arsenal.
The key players have been in negotiations with the club over a new contract for well over a season now, and there appears to be very little hope of either extending their stay in North London.
A host of top clubs are keen to sign Alexis, with Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City believed to be leading the chase, and there is no chance that the Chilean is not thinking about his future, especially following the Deadline Day saga.
On August 31 the Gunners accepted an offer from Pep Guardiola’s side, only to fail to strike a deal with Monaco for Thomas Lemar, which ended any chance of our side letting the Chilean leave the club.
The German international appears to have less potential suitors, and could possibly stay put, but the wage demands he is believed to have put forward will have to be earned.
Arsenal lost 2-1 to Watford this weekend, giving up the chance to move inside the top four, and while Sanchez didn’t feature, Shearer is refusing to blame his exclusion for the loss.
“They were missing Sanchez, rested after international duty, but despite that you do get the sense that his heart isn’t truly in it anymore,” Shearer wrote in The Sun.
“Speculation of a move in the next transfer window doesn’t help.
“It doesn’t help the overall attitude and feeling in the squad knowing that in a couple of months those two key players [Sanchez and Ozil] can start negotiating to play for another club with their contracts up in the summer.
“Two players worth a combined £100million in today’s market are heading out the door for free in two of the longest and potentially most ignominious goodbyes in the club’s history.
“That is unless one of the big clubs is so desperate for an injection of talent that they will pay good money for one of them in January.
“That in a nutshell is the problem at Arsenal.”
And Shearer continues to add that the manager should also have been moved on, claiming his new contract laments the idea that failure is acceptable.
“By giving Arsene Wenger a new contract in the summer it was made clear to the players and the fans that failure to win the title over the last 13 years doesn’t matter,” he continued.
“Arsenal should have sold them at the start of the summer transfer window, or even six months before that and got in some young hungry players who do want to be there.”
Does Wenger’s extended stay prove that Arsenal have no ambition to get to the top again? Does Alexis or Ozil look like they are concentrated on their football?
Pat J