The latest rumour this week regarding the ongoing Alexis Sanchez contract saga is reports that the Chilean for the second time in the last month was spotted in Paris, this time with his girl friend and his agent. Now I’m not an expert but normally if you want a romantic weekend away you don’t take your agent with you.
It has led many putting two and two together, with Paris Saint German one of the few teams outside of England able to afford the wages the South American demands.
Many Arsenal fans have tried to reassure themselves that having spent over 200 million on Neymar, an offer from France would now be unlikely out of fear of further upsetting UEFA’s financial fair play scheme. That’s wishful thinking , the reality is 50 million to the Qatar owners is to what 50p is to your average person.
It has led to some fearing that Arsene Wenger’s insistence that Arsenal have made a club decision to allow their star man to play out his contract will now be tested.
Once you look at the facts however could an argument not be made that the rumours coming out of the French capital are the best possible news out of a horrible situation?
Writing that might put me in the minority with my fellow Gooners but in life you have to deal with the cards you have been dealt. Once you get over the fact that too many contracts have been allowed to run down with less then a year left you have to deal with the reality in front of you.
The reality is that Sanchez clearly wants to leave the club. The fact that he has turned down becoming the highest paid player in our history , not willing to consider any type of compromise, tells you how much he wants to go. Arsene Wenger would not of been our manager for two decades if he truly believed that someone changing their mind in their last 12 months was realistic.
Stan Konrenke can be criticised for much but on this occasion no one can accuse our board of not showing ambition. 300, 000 pound a week is more then the going rate. The moment it became clear that Sanchez and his agent were not willing to negotiate then Arsenal’s priority became clear, do whatever it takes to stop him from joining a Premiership rival.
The only side who can help us do that is PSG.
Some Arsenal fans (and clearly our manager) have fallen into thinking that our best case scenario is forcing him to stay, patting themselves on the back for once putting football principles above what makes sense from a business point of view.
From a PR point of view I can understand why our board feel that say 50 million would not be worth the grief they would receive from an already disillusioned fan base. Their job is to keep the customers happy and in the short term they do that by ensuring that the gunners have another 12 months of seeing a world class player at the Emirates.
But the key words are short term. Only Arsene Wenegr knows in private what his player has told him. But if he is making it clear that this time next year he wants to stay in England but North London is not his destination, wouldn’t that be more painful then selling him now to a club where he can’t come back to haunt us?
By forcing him to stay are we not just putting a bandage over a gaping wound, are we still not bleeding? It’s like knowing that someone in a relationship is not in love with you but ignoring the fact for 12 months, your just delaying the hurt.
My fellow gooners, ask yourself this, what would hurt more?
Sanchez being sold now to PSG or getting to see him in the red and white for a few more months but the result being he goes and plays for a City, United or worse Chelsea?
I have no doubt that if any club from abroad in the last minute of the transfer window called Arsenal’s bluff with an offer, they would take it. It would be the perfect compromise..
Dan Smith
He doesn’t want to be here. Cash out while you can and keep him from our rivals. Use the money to buy a starting #6/8 and a CB and let Welbeck, Iwobi and Ramsey duke it out for Alexis’s spot next to Ozil.
I am amazed by the fact that many gooners want our best player being sold as if we get a piece in our pocket. I could understand the pride ‘ how could he refuse us?’ But knowing the money gained doesn’t translate to new purchase (even if so it doesn’t mean the same quality) we should know that this team is mid table without the him. That’s a fact! For the ‘CLUB’ it is very important to keep him for 12 months and get as high as possible while looking for new opportunities transfer wise.
*High on the table
With or without Sanchez we are headed towards mid table mediocrity…thats down to Wenger. He is running the club into the ground and appears consequence-free and more disturbingly fire-proof.So sell Sanchez, keep Sanchez it doesn’t really matter…the real problem is Wenger.
maybe we can do a swap for Draxler. he would work well with Ozil and Lacazette.
Got two question:
1. Why would Draxler exchange PSG for us ? Especially now with the arrival of Neymar makes CL title a strong possibility.
2. Didnt know Ozil still worked at Arsenal !!
If PSG make a decent offer SELL HIM . if we can get anyone of the following – Marco Verratti , Adrian Rabiot , Draxler or Lucas Moura as part of the deal even better . Arsenal will suffer without Sanchez that’s obvious but we would suffer even more if he goes to a rival .
@Vish – we’ve only europa football to offer, so why would any of those players you mentioned be keen to come to us when playing in europa’s our reality not theirs? and yeah we’ll struggle without alexis, it would be like sending the spuds a xmas present well before the time.
Hey mate . I’m hoping that it being a word cup year coming up those PSG players mentioned would rather come to showcase their talent instead of rotting on the bench
there’s nobody in their right mind going to let Verratti (et al) rot – but otherwise i share your optimism in wanting afc to turn things completely around.
why won’t they join? cl or el , it doesn’t make any difference to most of football players. money and playing time does. Kante for example moved to Chelsea without cl or el.
…the difference? is kinda like producing your goods for display in the “pound shop” and presenting your goods for display at West End “Selfridges”, hope it makes sense.
We should Sanchez no matter what. Personally, I would sell him for the best possible price even if that would be City. Who are we kidding? Are we really competing with City this season? Sell him for 70 to the city and buy Seri and Lemar.
If we force him to stay be prepared to be told next season we can not afford to replace him. There is also a good chance Sanchez Sanchez has only one or two good seasons left in him which means he won’t be a treat to us at Arsenal since we won’t be competitive till after Wenger leaves.
Ask yourself this will be better next season without Sanchez and without Lemar and Seri or with Lemar and Seri?
(Happy to sub-Draxler for Lemar, my point is we are not a club that can afford to write of the type of money we are being offered for Sanchez, better to sell and re-invest that money now this window)
This all changes of course if Sanchez wants to sign a new contract. In that case, I would be happy for him to stay.
Sanchez for Draxler and Krychowiak.
While we are at it ask them whether they are interested in the future England captain Wilshere; the new TH14 Theo; the English Drogba Welbeck, and the Welsh Messi, A. Ramsey.
alexis won’t leave to psg. he won’t be thinking winning CL with psg, playing second fiddle behind Neymar & Cavani.
Then for arsene-
the plot is alexis stays, we signed laca & sead, may be 1 more at middle/defensive middle & go for the title & we won it.
alexis sign new contract , ozil sign new contract.
the title will make arsenal, a destination for top players.
good thought though i have never seen a entirely happy wenger at the end of a season for years.
alexis is well used to english turf than draxler or rabiot or verrati. he shouid & will stay. he is a professional & once he decides to stay the best will come out of him.
There are probably only two players in the world who we can almost guarantee could replace Sanchez and what he does for us over 30 goals!! ( messi/ Ronaldo which are out of our reach) to sell him would mean this season is over already and pinning our hopes on an unproven lemar/ seri would likely fail. I know it makes financial sense but it’s footballing suicide and being a fan I would rather win games than make money. Keep him this season it then gives you time to find a few players to replace the goals/ assists Sanchez gets hopefully!
Could it be that it is Wenger’s or the club’s plan to let Sanchez go at the end of the window when we have no time to replace him? They could blame him by saying he made it finally clear he wants to leave and then claim they had no time to replace him. Not entirely different from the RVP saga where we also ran out of time to replace him.
For the last Month Wenger repeated that he is not for sale. Now he has just declared that the board may think otherwise and that if the player wants to leave theres nothing he can do.
Wenger keeps thinking fans are stupid, he has always known that Sanchez will leave, he just kept lying to lure more players to join Arsenal. At the end of the window he will blame the player for leaving and will have the perfect excuse to say “Well we didnt have the time to look for a replacement”.
Money isn’t Sanchez goal, if it was he would have accepted latest offer (which no ones has ever heard directly from the club). He is just tired of the same lies over and over again.
Dear Admin,
Your argument is unbalanced and lacks clear cognitive insight to what has been a corrosive infection imbued within AFC due to the myopic thinking of Kronke and Wenger etal. not willing to accede to changing environments subsequent to the release of financial restraints of having to pay off loans for financing the Emirates and the need for a real defensive arsenal at the highest level.
You have betrayed your fanbase and kidded your selves for well over a decade. wenger as always prevaricates, vacillates and procrastinates and comforts himself with the knowledge that the ‘board’ will always back him. Today AFC has a pertinent force upfront and yes there is a clear argument that it is better to sell Sanchez abroad but only if Wenger is sure that Sanchez will Not sign a new contract even if AFC will end up in the top 3 of EPL this season. As it appears that Wenger is calculating that AFC will be challenging for the top spot then should he not be going all guns blazing to enhance the Defence. There is Kalidou Koulibali and Vigil Van Dijk available at the right price but Wenger is dithering as per usual.
Here we are with fine words from Wenger “we have to identify what is needed” … Wow every one knows and it is patent as his big nose in the middle of his face … AFC has a leaky defence..! Needs 6ft+ top end defenders like Kalidou Koulibali and Vigil Van Dijk.
Even if Sanchez is sold now , AFC must enhance its defence his currently is 3rd rate.
Swap with PSG for Lucas Moura….or sell him to city.no ppint in letting a 70M asset go to qaste..even spurs sold Walker to city and reinvested..there is no shame.
cash in on all who wants to leave including mediocre fringe average over hyped who still wants to stay and take us for ransom. lets start it all over without that stinking head Wenger. Mr Bean’s twin bro.
Why do we even get worked up about transfer dealings when we all know that no matter what the fans desires are , Arsenal don’t care about the wishes or ambitions of the fans . They want to rake in the cash and wallow in mediocrity
The problem is that after selling Sanchez , we won’t be reinvesting that money. Instead we will buy couple of unknown players for 20- 30 million with the board pocketing the rest.
I can understand why Alexis wants to leave even when we are offering him a huge contract.I don’t think its the money , its the ambition in the club.He has a better chance of competing for a major trophy when he is at PSG or City.
Lets agree that we are no longer in contention for league title and we are just a company which is interested in making profits at the cost of fans paying for season tickets and merchandises.Arsenal fans should do what blackburn fans did . Boycott matches but then there are AKBs, the Wenger supporters who are deluded just like Wenger.
There are few here as well who just thumbs down all opinions criticising Wenger
If you don’t agree with our comments , before clicking thumbs down ,tell us why you think Wenger can get us out of this mess.
Your solution is boycott? Explain how that will achieve your desired results. Explain exactly how boycott is in anyway a feasible means of putting pressure on the board?
A club the size of arsenal? Boycott?! Real world solutions please.
Boycott is better than protesting during our matche’s . Although we are unhappy with how our club conducts themselves we need to ensure our team on the pitch is not distracted by our actions . As much as Wenger is to blame for how our season ended so to are we fans to blame . expressing our vitriol towards our manager and team during a match was not helpful in spurring our team on . We should get behind the team and be the 12th man on the pitch for 90minutes . Im not a pro Wenger supporter , he is past his time . I’m an Arsenal fan who wants us to be the best and most successful club around
Okay, but you still haven’t explained how boycotting will work.
It’s feasible because it’s not possible. Boycott like Blackburn did? They aren’t a club with an international fan base. There are people lined up to take empty seats. That is a simple fact. So suggesting boycott at a club like arsenal, is like suggesting you can go swimming without getting wet. It’s been suggested time and time again. It won’t work. Tired of hearing the same completely unworkable solution. And no it’s nothing to do with my opinions on manager or board. It is a simple fact of having a huge fan base.
Where is the work around that?
@Jibs – iv responded to your other Q (see below).
The Arsenal board along with Kroenke are only interested in the bottom line , how much money they can extract from the business that is Arsenal Football Club. This will sound niave but if ALL ARSENAL FANS band together in unison to boycott the club, don’t buy their products , dont attend the matches and a blackout on all social media sites.
When the club image is tarnished by matches played in empty stadiums and a lack of merchandise sold to fans then the board and Kroenke will suffer and we have suffered for a decade . hopefully Kroenke will decide to sell the club to Usamanov who really loves Arsenal and will invest heavily to make us Champions again ..
Of course this is a fantasy as we Arsenal fans will never stand United. We fight amongst ourselves and Kroenke truly doesn’t have ambitions to leave or make this club glorious again .
this is what can really make our season
when you know sanchez will leave for free next season why pay his wages
sell him to psg and build a team which can stay here for years
give psg sanchez and 30 million
and get
draxler verati krychowiak even auriar if a deal falls through
when you want to win league you sould have a big squad with good players on bench
look at city manu and chelsea they all have good players
we need these 4 players
there is no player other then ozil who can create a goal for stricker or play a killer pass niether bellerin or oxlade can not play a good threatning ball when striker is in the box
if we get them
laca
draxler ozil
kolas verati xhaka ox
kos holdin mustafi
cech
with bench having
giroud ramsay wolcott krychowiak
backup defendr a keeper
we are good to go
this is the only way we can ger back to top 4
otherwise
just wait and see everton ending above then us
I hope sanchez, oziel, walcott leaves. N get mbappe, seri, davinson sanchez.
I’d hate to end up in a nightmare scenario where we end up in 6th or 5th place and Sanchez leaves of a free. I’ve had to put up with some real embarrassment as a gooner over the years, but for some reason that would be the ultimate.
I said get some money from him early on. People disagreed with me using the argument that “having Sanchez in our team will increase our chances of success.” But that argument makes no sense to me. He was world class last season, had his best season for us, won us games single handely at times, he literally couldn’t do anymore for us. And we finished 5th. The only way we can improve is if others step their s**t up. Now we have a Sanchez that clearly doesn’t want to be here and team that don’t look like they are turning any corners anytime soon. Sanchez at his best 5th, carrying the team. A Sanchez that doesn’t want anything to do with this team? 4th? 3rd?
Please can someone explain to me again why holding on to him will ensure we get back into the top 4 and why letting him leave for free is better than selling him?
Davidson sanchez (DC/WB)
Good takling, agresive, passing, strong
Seri (DM/AM)
Good passing, agility, agresive
Mbappe (FRLC) —- I HOPE GET MBAPPE…
Good skill, finishing, n the next henry
Sanchez will leave, but I doubt to PSG. PSG are lining up Mbappe . Sanchez should have been sold a long time ago. He will probably be lining up against us for Man C.
Sanchez to PSG
Mbappe to arsenal
Oziel to Dortmund
Dembele to barca
Seri to arsenal
D.sanchez to arsenal
Cech
SANCHEZ koscielny Mustafi
Bellerin SERI Xhaka Kolasinac
Lacazette Giroud MBAPPE
wenger’s clearly taking another path in deciding not to sell – not a board decision but one he made and it will work. the alternative is to sell him, buy a couple more mercenaries who’ll eventually go off and do the same – arsenal for some players is going to be the springboard to somewhere else, ask viera, RvP, fabregas and even the king.
Okay, I’ve heard this will work. But please explain why it will work. How is success garuanteed by this plan? I’m not having a go, I just don’t understand the optimism. If Wenger makes two more key signings I’d possibly agree. But it looks like we’ve concluded our business (or anything meaningful) this summer.
i agree 2 more signings is a must – my thinking is we need to do something other than to sell sanchez so as not to witness success of others while our season descends further into chaos. Far as it being a plan i’m not sure its anything other than insisting on “specific performance” of a contract which sanchez is legally obliged to respect. AFC are in the right to enforce their contract simply because sanchez’ promise under the deal is incomplete.
The optimism – if any – is arsenal get to review matters in January and hope the situation will improve. the selling option remains on hold and the rivals clubs will stay clear of the player (while he’s under contract) for fear of being exposed and even sued by arsenal FC.
Arsenal Is Doomed To Fail Under The Current Management. Even If Alexis Stays, We Still Won’t Succeed. Wenger And His Board Are Pathetic Ingrates. Nothing Lasts Forever, They’ll Depart On Day. If Ramsey Is Going To Partner Xhaka All Season Long, Everton Will Finish Above Us. The Specialist In Failure Is Just A Hypocrite Playing Smart. He’s Just Fooling Himself. He Has Already Destroyed The Legacy He Built For Himself. He No Longer Deserves A Bit Of Respect. A Reliable Centre-Back And Defensive Midfielder Is All We Need But The Fool Will Never Do What Is Right For The Team. Wenger Is Arsenal’s Biggest Dead-Wood.
Alexis wants to leave Arsenal ASAP. So two options are left for Wenger. One keep him until his contract expires. Now if we don’t sell him means that we’ve a minor chance to get his contract extended in mean time by buying the right players to strengthen the team and selling the deadwoods. That is to make him sure we are an ambitious club to challenge the trophy by bringing the world class reinforcement. Two is to sell him to the highest bidder and invest the amount in suitable replacement that is players like Lemar, Asencio etc. But what Wenger is going to do is wait till the end of the day and sell him to highest bidder never matter Man City or PSG and pocket the profit without proper replacement. Then he’ll come with a justification that there are no more top top quality players are available in the transfer market. We the fans by far away destination and especially those spends a lot on season tickets will be fooled once again. It’s gonna be same scenario of Robin Van Persie. Mark my words.
To me, he has already gone. I don’t think of him in the team at the moment and if they offer decent money I would sell.
Players get itchy feet and want to move on. That’s fine and normal. I just wish it was already signed because I really am sick of reading about him going to different teams.
He is a great player and would add to most teams, I just hope he gets playing time wherever he ends up. Too good a talent to be benched behind the prima donnas.
Who cares about long term? If he can stay around and help us win something this season or even top 4, that will be good enough for me. We have put alot of hope in the future but all it has done is to disappoint.