Arsene Wenger promised the Arsenal fans at the end of last season that Alexis Sanchez would be staying with the club whether he signed a new contract extension or not, but, let’s be honest, none of us really believed him going by past performance. The rumours linking Alexis to Man City were just so persistent that it seemed inevitable that we would lose yet another one of our stars to the oil-rich Citizens.
But now it seems that Le Prof was telling the truth and all Arsenal fans will be ecstatic to see Sanchez and Lacazette playing together for at least one season, and if we just happened to win the Premier League, perhaps Sanchez won’t leave next summer either!
Wenger made his stance clear at the first press conference of the season, in Sydney. He said: “The players come back and we expect them to respect their contracts,”
He was then asked whether Sanchez had told him he wanted to leave, and Wenger replied simply: “No.”
But Le Prof also told us that a new contract had not already been signed, but he is hopeful that he may do in the course of the next year. He continued: “Nobody knows today if Sanchez will be in the final year of his contract next season, because he can as well extend his contract with us at the start of the season or during the season, so it’s not necessarily the last year of his contract with Arsenal.”
Another boost is the fact that Wenger said he would not strengthen a direct rival like Man City as he promised at the end of the seasone just gone. “That’s in the continuity of what I said at the end of the season; that’s what we will do,” he added.
Well full marks to the Boss for sticking to his guns. The club may lose 50 million by not selling Alexis, but if we win the title in the meantime, then you simply can’t put a price on that!
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I must admit Wenger has impressed me this summer
this is way bigger news than lacazette- great news -woiiiiiiiii
A big thumbs up for Wenger. I do look forward to us winning the EPL next season with Sanchez, Lacazette etc. Even if we do eventually miss the title…we would have proven a few points…it wont be for selling our most important players, it won’t be because we strengthened a rival club; it wont be because a player became bigger than our club; forced his way out; we would have proven that it is not all about money/gains all the time; we would have had a coach who truly proved he is in charge and will not bulge to a player’s pressure etc. All that would mean a lot to the club and count, in no small measure, to our prestige and future success of the club.
Now I really want Sanchez to be sold….selling him would be our only chance of landing mbappe
I hope that sanchez stays and we finish lemar ot mahrez deal.
If these deals are finished arsenal can win the league and by winning the league every thing will be easier and sanchez will get the trophy that he is looking for and will happily renew his contract.
For me this season is to be or not to be.
If what AW said is true about Sanchez not forcing a transfer then yes love to have him play another season at our great club
Eddie Hoyte, I’m one off the biggest W.O.B’s out there but I must admit he has impressed me to. That ruthlessness that he had in the 1st era off his campaign looks to be back. I hope he keeps going cause I would love nothing more than for him to prove all us haters wrong, I love and respect him for what he has done but I thought he had lost his edge. Let’s see what happens for the rest off the summer and next season.
Right now I’m enjoying having my beloved Gunners down under and will get the privelage to watch then live for the 1st time in a couple off days. Can’t wait
Hopefully he gets the players we need and he utilises them well. For me i’ll prefer winning the EPL over the europa but if we can win both then this will be thebest season after the invincibles 2004
well i’m not convinced he has changed yet if you notice in his press conference his down playing new signing as he always done in the past
but hope he goes out with a big bang and if he dose well and win the harts of the fan why not another two years extension, but to earn that he relay has to buy well and be more open with his fan
I hope this is new Wenger, and not the same Wenger who told us “Nasri is staying ” and ended at city…RVP is going nowhere and ended up at manure…whether Sanchez is staying or not, Lemar has to come. I will be jealousy seeing him slip off our hands to any other team…
First of all, and I shouldn’t even need to say this given Wenger’s track record, but don’t ever believe anything Wenger says! At the very least, take what he says with a bucket of salt!
Technically, we still do not know 100% for sure if Sanchez definitely wants out. It looks that way, but even Ozil still hasn’t signed yet. But out of all the possible scenarios that could play out, Sanchez staying, and not signing a new contract is the worst possible outcome. It makes no sense financially, and it makes no sense in terms of what you may, or may not get from the player. Sanchez could easily down tools, although I don’t think he’d do that. And it’s not as if we’d be stopping our rivals from getting him, because they could just sign him up next season…on a free!!!
Wouldn’t it be more painful seeing Sanchez in a Chelsea/City shirt, or God forbid, a Spurs shirt, and knowing it cost them nothing to sign one of the best players in the world?
if City don’t sign Sanchez you know they are going to sign someone close to his talent,
so yes lets cash in on him if he wants to go ask huge amount from City but make it affordable for clubs outside the EPL
Guys – may be it’s time you make up ur mind if you want our club to be a selling club- did we fans not say all along that it’s high time we focus on trophies and not finances – so why a u-turn now. World class players don’t down tools and neither will Alexis. There is no guarantee Lacazette will hit the ground running and Alexis is by far our best player. So all in all with Alexis in the squad we have the best chance of making it back to CL and much better chance to win the PL (if any). So I will say that shut the f**ck up and get behind the team. We need to win now – if we get back into CL we will have the pull to get better players in; the money from a sale will not be the pull.
I was worried the relationship between Wenger and Sanchez was irrevocably damaged with him started from the bench at Anfield. Also he does have a history of leaving clubs after 3 seasons for various reasons. Maybe the FA Cup win, recent transfers in and progress of time will mend the rift. Sanchez may also realize that he may not win more, have more respect and support from fans or earn higher wages at other clubs than at Arsenal.
I will hold my breath and wait for the transfer window to close before I get excited about who might be staying and who might be leaving or coming in.
Of course, Wenger has to make tough statements if he wants a good negotiation position with prospective buyers of Sanchez. I will be ecstatic if Sanchez stays and plays to his ability but until then I remain skeptical.
Is this the same tight with money Wenger. Lol I’m impressed. Got Lacazette, bid £100 million on Mbappe and keep Alexis to end of contract. Fantastic
Also, Alexis is a professional. I believe he will still play his best this season.
With Alexis, Lacazette, Ozil we will have a great chance of winning the PL. I hope we have a couple of more exciting signings but this is the first year in a long time I have been excited before the season starts
Good job Arsene. Keep it up 🙂
We can say its a good job if he ends up with league title next yr.Just buying a player and bidding on someone doesn’t hide the failures of last 10 years.
Did I say that it would? Don’t put words in my mouth
I said “keep it up”, meaning we need more signings
Signing Lacazette and keeping Alexis would be a major step in winning the Title
The whole season I was typing “Wenger Out”
The whole season I stated how angry I was that Wenger hurt us for 13 years by not signing the right players
I think you want to criticise for the sake of criticisng
How do we know we are keeping Alexis? Transfer windows isn’t closed yet there is still 50 days till August 31st.
This is the statement he makes regarding transfer in yesterdays press conference – ““I am open to getting some more signings, but it’s not easy to find the players who can strengthen our squad as we have top-quality players.” . I don’t believe in anything Wenger says but still do we have all top-quality players for all positions . He has to acknowledge the fact that we need signings at few important positions.
Regarding winning trophies this is what he says
“To do well of course means to win the Premier League, hopefully to win the Champions League as well, but I think I have stayed at Arsenal for such a long time because for me a club is firstly about values, the values I hold dear.One is to win trophies but more important is to know who we are, and what is important to us.”
So what is important to Wenger ? Values or Money ? I say money because if it was values he would have quit the club when he failed to win a trophy for last 10 yrs.
I think Wenger have only two seasons may be some more.he might be aiming for uefa champ trophy only one he don’t have.sanchez lacz and Lemar attack ?
Lets all wait to see how the season pans out
Food for thought… could it be that all along its been Kroenke who has not authorised spending and that’s why wenger was waiting to renew his contract?!?! and being loyal in the meantime and taking all the fans frustration… maybe Wenger could finally demand a big budget !?
@Neil…..I am 100% with you on this. Honestly, i have a strong believe that AW may have just been a lot loyal to the board -operating under very tight budget. You wonder why board has refused to sack him but instead extend contract? It is truly all about appreciting AW shrewdness and loyalty. It would have been grossly unfair- and acute wickedness for the board to have attempted to sack AW before now; he simply has delivered (business-wise). Now, the time has come to deliver MORE on the field of play and AW seems to be demanding and utilizing big budget. Let’s rally round our club…let’s get some bigger trophies this time. COYG!
If we win the PL, it will be worth more than £50 million and I won’t have any hard feelings about Alexis leaving. He would have helped us win the Premier League and two FA Cups.
Can’t wait to see Ozil, Alexis and Lacazette run riot on other teams
COYG
Do you think Wenger would say what happens in contract extension discussion in a press conference.What would be the impact of saying Alexis wants to leave us on season ticket sales and merchandise sales. Didnt he do the same thing during Nasri and RvP transfer.
Arsene is jus waiting for a huge bid from Man city.As soon as we receive a bid we will sell him.I feel only transfer activity pending is selling some deadwood. I don’t expect any new signings.
Let’s wait and see
Are you a psychic or have a crystal ball?
We can only go on what Wenger and Alexis says
Who knows what will happen
looks like the cassette is set to partake in the No9 voodoo hunting the arsenal… fingers crossed
I often get amused by people who keep quoting Wenger of the recent past without looking at Wenger prior to 2005. In order to appreciate Wenger we need to examine his exploits between 1996-2006 and then compare with his seeming failings between 2005-2014 when we won FA. Wenger of the past years brought such players as Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Sylvain Witord, Kolo Toure , Robert Pires, Frederick Lundberg, Gilberto Silva, Lauren Maya , Eduardo, Antonio Reyes, Casc Fabregas, Van Persia, Thomas Rosicky , Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jens Lehman, Sol Campbell, Andrey Arshavin and others.
During Wenger’s earlier period he won three ,EPL trophies, four FA cups and four Community Shields not to mention the fact that he went a whole season (2003-04) unbeaten earning the exceptional tag of “Invincibles”. Arsenal was the first team to do that in over 100 years. Apart from those successes Arsenal has been in Champions League for twenty successive years. No other EPL team has ever achieved such a feat. For those who were too young this is the man you mock now because of not knowing those facts.
Why then did Wenger and Arsenal regress? The answer is very simple. Arsenal needed to move away from Highbury to a bigger stadium which would accommodate more people and generate more revenue. Wenger spearheaded that project and accomplished it very successfully. Of course it affected the operations of the Club because it could no longer afford to compete in the transfer market. Arsenal was thus forced to go for young players who were cheaper. This affected on pitch performances. However Arsenal continued to be competitive and in 2006 reached the CL final in Paris which it lost to Barcelona due mainly to the sending off of goal keeper Jens Lehman.
In retrospect one can say that the innuendos about Wenger being inept are largely due to lack of full appreciation of the factors that brought about the kind of situation Arsenal has been in. There is absolutely nothing surprising about Wenger being decisive or spending big in the transfer market.
Another scenario for Sanchez is; Arsenal don’t challenge for the league title, don’t win the Europa League and maybe win one of the domestic cups. Sanchez doesn’t sign a new contract and walks away on a free (pocketing his bonuses as he goes).
This leaves Arsenal with £50 million+ less to invest the following transfer window(s), How many fans will be on Wengers and the boards backs for not spending enough money.
Wenger really needs to sit down with Sanchez and thrash out what his real intentions are, if he intends on leaving no matter what, we’re best to sell now, and get to re-invest the money.
I know some people won’t agree, but I can’t see any benefit in keeping a want away player.
Let’s look at the other possibility; with Sanchez gone and no new additions (and even with Lemar) you definitely will not win the league ; will not make it to CL and may have a 25-30% chance of winning the domestic cups. So which top quality player will want to come to us next season? Food for thought?
Happy with our stance no risk no reward, and if the worst case scenarios as you say happen then so be it, I won’t dwell on it I just want Every player to give everything he has to the shirt, a desire to win and that’s all season long no more ups and downs. And if we lose then that’s football at least I’ll know we put in a 110% every game. If you want guaranteed success arsenal is not for you ( heart attack in the making) but if you want beautiful football,a team that challenges for titles, and passionate fans than you found yourself a home win or lose.
Forget what wenger said Sanchez will b playing for city not arsenal next season NasrI .Van Persie and other players who were not being sold ended up leaving just think for one minute that Kronke will let 50 million just walk away in a year’s time are in cloud cuckoo land if Sanchez was staying he’d have said so by now and signed new contract so demand 80 million from city sell him spend money on other players no player bigger than Arsenal football club
I can’t see City spending £80 million for him, when they can have him for free next year.
Good. Who cares how much we lose? The club has so much money but only so many good players. Good decision Wenger. This is a win-win situation. If Sanchez plays his best and he’s in an attack wth Ozil and Lacazette, that’ll be interesting. And even if Sanchez starts acting up and we can send him to train with the kids and make an example out of him.
It’s never done until it’s done, is the window shut yet?
No it isn’t so I’ll keep the champagne on ice for now until it slams shut.
What would the arsenal board say and do if Pep rocks up with 75m for sanchez 2 days before deadline day?
I read all the comments and I can’t believe that people really think he’ll stay based on lacazette maybe lemar and an fa cup win.
Sanchez made up his mind to leave when we got thrashed by bayern and when it all kicked off on the training ground. Have we forgotten that?!
He’ll leave and either city or Chelsea will buy him, (would love it to be inter or psg though).
I suspect this will happen late in the window and hopefully for >=60m.
If he does stay and Wenger makes him stay I think we could really regret it, he has it in him to rock the boat, wengers not stupid he must know this he’s seen it first hand.