Alexis Sanchez is widely reported to be on the verge of a move to league rivals Manchester City, and Riyad Mahrez could possibly come in to replace him.
The Chilean forward is into the final 12 months of his current contract in North-London, and has been strongly linked with the exit door for months, and bookmakers now have him chalked up as an odds-on shot to move to the Etihad in the coming window.
Sanchez is believed to be keen on linking up with former coach Pep Guardiola, although Gunners fans will be livid should our club agree to let him strengthen a rival.
James Rodriguez, Arda Turan and Riyad Mahrez have all been speculated as being on our wishlist this summer, although the former would likely be outside our price range.
The Algerian was strongly linked with a move to Arsenal last summer, but agreed with Leicester that he would see out the new campaign, and he has claimed that he is now free to find a new club.
Mahrez also stated that Arsenal’s interest in one that he is keen to follow up with, but he cannot do so until the club make their interest concrete by following up with an offer.
‘It’s an honour to receive compliments like this from such a big manager in world football,’ Mahrez explained.
‘But there’s a big difference between an offer and speculation, so there is nothing on the table at the moment.’
‘The chairman and I agreed that I would stay another year at the club and that he would let me leave at the end of the season.
‘I think it would be the right time for me to leave, I have experienced everything at this football club.
‘I went from the Championship to the Premier League, I stayed up with the team the next season, we won the Premier League, I won the PFA player of the year award, I played the Champions League, so we did something quite exceptional.
So for me, it would be the right time to leave. The club and I are on the same page regarding my future so we’ll see. I don’t really want to get into these things so we’ll see what the future holds for me.’
He added: ‘A number of clubs have shown their interest, even last season when I stayed at the club. I’m not here to say which club has spoken to me, even I still don’t know.
‘I’m still at Leicester City for the time being, I’m still under contract so we’ll see what happens next. If I have to go, I’ll go, but if I have to stay then I’ll stay. I should be leaving but I still don’t know where so we’ll see.’
Would Mahrez be accepted as a worthy replacement for Alexis? Could anyone really replace Sanchez?
Pat J
we should be going for Lemar, Bakayoko, Mbappe, Isco and etc..
instead of going for a one season wonder and a player full of mood swings…
this is why we never win titles
Lol like u know mbappe and lemar aren’t one season wonder…..
What are you talking about mate. Mahrez won a title in a Kmart side. He still can’t replace Alexis, he should be brought to play on the other side of the front 3 with Alexis
No, no one can – if you look at the combination of fitness, skill and giving 100% every game, only person who springs to mind is Suarez, although different kind of player, they have the same ethos. It is really beginning to bug me that Arsenal fans keep pushing it as if they are going to accept a move to Citeh. Absolutely not. If he won’t sign, he can run down his contract. If he moves to Citeh – protest.
either way he will still move to City…
its either this summer with monetary compensation from citeh
or
next summer to Citeh on a free transfer…
I’m not sure Citeh really suits him – he likes to be special, which he won’t be there. and he likes London. I strongly believe he will stay if Wenger pulls out his finger on the transfer front.
Sanchez already has 350k a week on the table
Wenger needs to improve iit to 400k per week if Sanchez is going to sign
Why the penny pinching Hafiz? Let’s offer him 700k to stay!
No way
Mate this 350p/week from Bayern is bull crap. A week ago they where pulling out off a deal to sign him cause he wanted to much money at 300p/week. Now all off a sudden they up it to 3500. Don’t believe everything you read In the paper Mr Ibrahim 90% of it is crap.
I don’t see the problem with him going to City. We should be pragmatic. We are not going to win the PL as long as Wenger is in charge and that is at least 2 more years by which time Sanchez is likely burned out at the pace he is playing at and the age of 31.
More than half the fans think Wenger is not the man to lead us back to the top yet we are concerned if one of our players goes to a team wanting to win the PL? That doesn’t make sense to me.
I think we should focus on supporting the team to make it back to the top 4 because that is the best we can reasonably expect. Don’t believe Wenger when he says Sanchez is staying and don’t believe him when he says we have the team to win the PL. He doesn’t know any other way than to spout that PR stuff.
Get used to it and wait for another 2 to 4 years for history to repeat itself only a dreamer has reason to believe things at the club have changed. They have not and they will not.
Mbappe?? Don’t make me laugh!! Lacazette at 35 million?? unlikely. Morata?? Keep on dreaming and he is not even that good on his own he needs a great team around him.
If we had someone in charge with charisma like Dein we could probably pull Aguero out of the City deal if they really want Sanchez because Pep doesn’t rate Aguero.
It’s okay we will celebrate with City fans end of next season when they win the title(which Sanchez wins them).
“No one can”
Of cause Sanchez can be replaced. He is a great player but not the best the world has ever seen he stands out more because he is in Arsenal, playing with inconsistent players with less heart. Benteke stood out at Villa and was pants when he went to a liverpool.
If Sanchez can’t be replaced why was he benched by Pedro at Barca?
Sterling stood out at Liverpool but at Man city, not so much. The same can be said of Bony when he was at Swansea.
Has Sachez ever stayed at a club for more than 3 seasons? Has anybody ever been able to get him to sign a new contract? As much as I would like to keep him no player is bigger than the club.
If we can get a top quality striker, improve our defence and were to win the title next season who would even care that Sanchez left a year from now.
Absolutely NOT
Mahrez is not WC
Alexis is
We need to strengthen our team not keep it the same or weaken it.
If we lose Alexis, we will need a Top CF and a Top winger
If Alexis stays, we need at least 1 top forward
If it were up to me, Keep Alexis and get BOTH Lacazette and Mahrez
At the end of the summer City, Chelsea and United will ALL have at least 2 World Class Forwards.
Us? Only Wenger and God knows
would prefer to keep Sanchez and get both Lacazette and Mbappe instead
or Lacazette and Lemar
Yap that one is better
Golovin does resembles Alesandr Helb or a young right foot Rosicky
Mahrez is exactly the type of player, we don’t need more of;
– No defensive discipline
– Only fully comitted some of the time
We are already well stocked with this type of player.
Stupid question
Mahrez would be an improvement for this squad on his good days and an Ozil on his off days. He can not replace Sanchez.
Mahrez to Sanchez is what Giroud was to RVP. You get a dilution from a great player to a sometimes good player. That is not a replacement in my book.
If Wellbeck plays on the left and doesn’t get injured, we have a new striker like Lacacette in the middle and Mahrez on the right with Ox in right wing back and kolasinac at left wing back we could potentially be more dangerous in attack than we were last season. So to Answer the question, yes, I do believe Sanchez can be replaced but time will tell.
I remember how bleak things looked when we lost RVP but we have,since achieved more and finished higher in the table since he left than we did when he lead our attack.
It would be a horrible signing. We need players who put in effort
No mahres is no Sanchez. Stay away and resign Sanchez. And ozil and ox. Also butland Pickford or donnaruma if Sanchez goes. We need James
No…. No he can’t.
That’s similar to saying Chamakh can replace RVP or Gervinho can replace Pires and we don’t even play with wingers at the moment.
Mahrez isn’t that good. Yes, he’s had “ONE” good season in his career that resulted in a surprise win with Leicester. But as an improvement to the squad; no!
I’d rather we went for someone decent like Gnabry oh wait…
If we do go back to wingers, I’d go for Jullian Brandt of Leverkusan.