Should Arsenal sell knowing Alexis will join Man City regardless?

Alexis Sanchez has his heart set on a move to Manchester City according to latest reports, so should Arsenal sell?

The Chilean has been out of sorts this term, scoring only four Premier League goals unlike the 12 he had at this point of last season, and has come under scrutiny for a number of below-par displays.

Despite his struggles, Arsene Wenger has continued to use him as a key player, and his lack of composure so far this campaign has not gone unnoticed.

Alexis Sanchez nearly left to join Man City last summer, only for our club to fail to persuade his replacement Thomas Lemar to leave Monaco, but the former Barcelona forward remains ever-likely to leave before next season, with his contract ending at the end of the current one.

Latest reports claim that Alexis has turned down a monster £400,000 per-week offer to move to China with Super League side Hebei China Fortune, and is claimed to have told them that he is adamant on re-teaming up with former coach Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.

If we had to accept that stopping the 28 year-old from moving to our rivals was impossible, would it make sense to cut our losses with Sanchez currently failing to find form, and with offers likely to come in the winter window?

Sanchez will not be cup-tied for the Champions League which could well prove a huge selling point in the coming window, and we may even return a reasonable fee with interest likely to be high.

Should Arsenal cut our losses with Sanchez? Does his form merit a reason to keep him for the rest of the campaign?

Pat J

 

 

Tags alexis sanchez Arsenal Man City

30 Comments

  1. Make some money while we can. Didn’t really want him going to another premier league team but he clearly doesn’t want to play for us anymore!! I just hope we do buy someone to replace him!

    1. And we are already infinite number of points behind ManCity so it really doesnt matter if Alexis go there.
      I hope he will leave the club cos he is evidently very nervous and it s not good for the team (who is already down).
      …but I hope Ozil will stay.

  2. Wenger never controlled Alexis. He just wanted us to believe that. He wanted to give him a lesson and benched him last season against Liverpool but he humiliated himself when Alexis came and scored.

  3. People who think we can sell Sanchez don’t understand the transfer part of football. If Sanchez wants to go to City how can we sell him to another club?

    Players are not slaves and have to agree on personal terms before they can be sold. Sanchez, as he has shown, will simply refuse to agree or even talk to any club he doesn’t want to go to.

    So if he wants to go to City we cannot sell him to another club.

    This is part of the reason it was such a massive mistake not to try to sell him sooner when the prospect of waiting a whole season might have persuaded him to join a PSG but now he knows in a few months he can beat City. City also knows this and will of course no longer offer big money. Sanchez will not decide the title for them this year so they can also wait. Arsenal put themselves in a position that waiting means they receive nothing for him and they are no longer in control because of their mismanagement.

    Like we all know, they should have sold to City in the summer and use the cash towards a replacement.

    1. Spot on. Both Sanchez and Ozil will be in Manchester next season and there is nothing we can do about it. If we do sell Sanchez to City in January it will only be for a nominal sum. And you are right we should have cashed in when they had some value.

    2. Yep. When Wenger decided not to sell Alexis/Ozil last window, he basically missed a chance to get 100m from those 2 sales and reinvest in the squad. Including salaries it could have brought us 3 good players, and have them groomed for a year. Now Ox is gone, I bet Danny/Ramsey will stay as soon as Ozil/Alexis go. This year basically we free 20mil wage bill and we have to replace Mert/Alexis/Ozil. If it has to be this, I would rather lose Walcott, Debuchy, may be Akpom, Giroud(if he is not happy, how long will it take for him to revolt!!!), extend Jack/Ramsey/Cech/Ospina/Danny and give more game time to Holding/Chambers/Iwobi/Coq/Niles this year itself to keep them ready for first team next year. Then invest 100m+cash from sales on a CB, CDM, CAM and a winger

  4. Well “IF” we are going to sign Draxler or Lemar then we will need as much money as possible. So sell Alexis now and sell our deadwood in the summer

    1. Wenger will not sign anyone. He has his transfer period excuses already, we have to wait to hear them. Our new signings will be Ramsey and Mustafi. We always had players coming back from injuries in Jan or Feb and the old dictator always told us those words.

  5. Sanchez seems like a difficult character, and I would imagine pretty difficult to manage. Unless everything goes his way he’s not happy, literally stamping his feet, yet he gives the ball away more than most in the team.

    Something I have noticed which I find a bit strange, is the fact he’s actually joining in with the goal celebrations recently, I wrote on here last season how he never joined in the celebration unless it was his goal, you would expect the exact reverse from other players.

    As for his sale, if we get a half decent offer from City (frankly I don’t think they need him, or his sulks) then we should accept it and move on, hes not going to make a difference to the destination of the title, and the way he’s playing for us it’s not going to hurt too much if he goes.

    I’d love him to get back to his best and sign a new contract with us, but that’s not going to happen unfortunately.

  6. Sanchez has zero chance of breaking into that City lineup at the moment. Zero. Sterling and Sane are playing lights out. Alexis, on the other hand, has regressed tremendously. I’ll be all up for selling him to them because: A) Better get something for him right now than nothing in the summer; B) Perhaps we can get a suitable replacement in January or give one of our youngsters a chance; C) It might actually disrupt City’s chemistry. It’s a win-win.

    1. I’m sure Pep will play him. I didn’t think Ox would get in the Liverpool side, but he slowly has, he may even come back to haunt us on Friday night

      1. I reckon Pep sees Sanchez would be an impact substitute for City. That is what he was for Barca and what he will be again.

      2. Ox is a BUM. Always was, is, and always will be. I could not believe it when we sold him to Pool, and for that much money. The only reason he plays right now is because Klopp decided to rotate his guys around the congestive holiday period (which btw backfired big time last week for him against Everton). I doubt that we’ll see Ox on Friday, and if we do, I’d absolutely love it. Perhaps he can score an open goal.

  7. It doesn’t make any sense that Manchester City want Sanchez for the next season, because:

    – He would be 29 years old tomorrow.

    – They have got younger players like Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne and Jesus.

    – Manchester City are dominating the Premier League without him.

    It is better if Manchester City chase younger stars like Lemar, Sergi Roberto, Denis Suarez, Ceballos, Rafinha, Adama Traore, Draxler, Moura, etc.

    I predict Sanchez would leave for another club at the end of this season or extend his stay at Arsenal. Cannot wait for the exciting January transfer window and announcements.

  8. Wenger should have sorted this long ago by selling a player, who clearly doesn’t want to play for us anymore. It has been clear to most people for about a year or so, and he could have been sold to a foreign club in the summer.
    But now selling him to Man C might be the best option.

    1. Lets be honest; selling him to City will not make them stronger but weaker. Their other players virtually never lose possession but that is Sanchez’s trademark, even from his very first game for us. Though because of his other qualities we chose, foolishly, to ignore that fault. At his age I don’t see Guardiola successfully changing him and so doubt that he will actually sign foir City; a year ago , yes, but not now as they keep the ball so well. In my view he would weaken their present team.

      1. I reckon Jon that Pep will take Sanchez to City.
        He won’t cost City anything at the end ofthe season or max £10 mil if we sell in January and they won’t pay him anywhere near as much as we would have paid him.
        Pep will put him on the bench for most games, only bringing him on as an impact substitute. Sanchez will put up with it to be at a club that will seriously challenge for the title.
        That is pretty much what Sanchez was at Barcelona and what he will be again.

  9. A key facet of good managership is NEVER to keep want away players OR happy to stay types but who coast along , idling and picking up huge salaries but not working hard. Wenger indulges both these types, who only harm the team, the squad and any idea of building team spirit and planning for future success. Wenger is in short doing pretty much everything wrong and making every fundamental mistake in the management manual. Yet still the powers that be keep him, new contract after yet another new contract. With people such as Kroenke , the whole board and Wenger shafting our club and its name, we must be bonkers or in love with the club -and you can be both – to still keep supporting. Surely the real truth is that virtually all Gooners, me included,in their heart of hearts are merely marking time til real meaningful personnel change is made and until then we know that nothing will change for the better. We just hope we don’t drift too far , down to the relegation zone, which would be inevitable if Wenger stays for several more years. I hate to spread pessimism but I must be honest and realistic. I refuse to self delude myself , as sadly, some (a dwindling few) still choose to do.

  10. Very good point from Jon. As much as it may be okay to sell Sanchez, we all know Wenger will not replace him with another quality player. What we are stuck with are poor quality players who want to stay while earning big wages & doing nothing on the pitch. Wenger is a very poor manager & we are in this position because of him. I would ship the likes of Walcott & Xhaka first before getting rid of Sanchez. But then again, it would all be useless if Wenger is still here.

  11. Man City are in a completely different league to us, we shouldn’t even be considered their rivals so if Alexis doesn’t wants to go then let him go, his performances have been disappointing.
    However the way Arsene Wenger has been using him has been so frustrating. If he’s gonna carry on hogging the ball and constantly cutting in then why hasn’t AW either dropped him or at least played him on the right. Whilst Alexis will find it difficult to get into City’s team right now, I guarantee he’ll stop this bullshit ball hogging and that chipped cross once Pep starts working with him again.

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