Arsene Wenger has defended the attitude of Alexis Sanchez, and insists he always gave his all for Arsenal.
The Gunners allowed the forward to join rivals Manchester United last month, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving in the opposite direction.
The Chilean had made his intention to leave the club, and was nearly sold to Manchester City on deadline day back in the summer, but ended up having to stay put, and his performances from that point onwards were questioned.
Wenger continued to field the 29 year-old despite the ongoing saga, and he insist that his former star always tried his best to try and help us win, despite the obvious problems with the situation.
Wenger said: ‘Sanchez, for him it was very difficult because as soon as he had a game that was average he was questioned about his commitment and that is not his case.
‘When he is on the football pitch he wants to win. But it was a bit unfair to him I think.’
When asked whether the saga had a detrimental effect on the playing squad, the Frenchman replied: ‘I don’t know, our results in the future will show that.
‘What was a bit unfair to Sanchez: he was questioned every time. Is he committed or not committed?
‘There was always a debate and then of course it starts to unsettle a little bit but I never questioned his commitment but it was a difficult situation.’
Wenger went onto claim that the former star was not key in our struggles this term, claiming our inconsistency at the back has been our biggest downfall.
He added: ‘I would say that we have been a lot… first of all we have not the defensive stability since the start of the season that you need to have to be completely efficient at our level.
‘We have produced offensively a lot of goal chances but we have not finished them well. So we have been a bit inefficient where it matters.
‘And as well there was a lot of uncertainty around the team with the Sanchez case, the Ozil case.
‘For the whole season that was a really difficult case. In hindsight, maybe despite the fact we couldn’t have brought somebody in, we should have cut that earlier.’
Should Alexis have been sold last summer? Did he have an adverse effect on our other players?
Pat J