This could well mean that Arsenal Football Club end up being worse off to the tune of around £50 million next summer, which is what the football media thought the Gunners would get in return for Alexis Sanchez if Arsene Wenger were to sell his star striker this summer.
If he does not let the Chile international go during the current transfer window the chances are that Alexis will leave on a free when his current contract expires at the end of the coming season, unless the boss can persuade him to stay and that is only going to happen if Arsenal show that we have the ambition and ability to win the Premioer League and start challenging properly for the Champions League.
That will all be more likely to happen, though, with Sanchez in the side so maybe that is why Wenger is willing to risk the transfer fee and that now seems almost certain after the Frenchman declared this week that he would not sell to an EPL rival.
This still left the possibility that our forward could be sold abroad, but that was only likely to be to Bayern Munich and that deal now appears to be a dead duck, with The Mirror reporting that the German club have instead signed the Colombian star James Rodriguez on loan from Real Madrid.
So is Alexis Sanchez now sure to be an Arsenal player for this season at least?
Bob.