I would consider this to be the first time that Arsene Wenger has finally admitted that there could be a problem with keeping Alexis Sanchez to honour his contract this season. The Chilean has been a shadow of the player he was last year and he has scored one solitary goal since his failed transfer to Man City in the summer.
Just by looking at our League positions and our results so far we can see that this is having a detrimental effect on the team, so surely it is time that Wenger admitted he made a mistake and can try to rectify the problem by getting rid of Alexis for the second half of he season.
When asked about the contract situations of Sanchez and Ozil today, Wenger said: “No decision has been made on that front,”
“Do we let anyone go in January? We’ll have to think about that to see where we stand with them at the end of December.”
From the evidence so far there is little chance of Alexis suddenly becoming the player last year that refused to be left on the bench – and wanted to play and do his best even when he was injured. He is not looking like he is encouraging the other players to try their hardest as he isn’t doing it himself, and the further we fall behind Man City (where he would be on course for a Premier League medal right now if he had got his wish in the summer), the more upset Alexis is likely to be, and even more keen to join the unbeaten League leaders.
And if Alexis is upset, what is the point of keeping him? Le Prof may as well try and get in a keen player and cut out the bad apple in the barrel.
But knowing how stubborn Arsene is, he will refuse to sell him to City just to make a point!
Darren N