The never-ending Alexis Sanchez saga looks like it is no nearer to reaching the end, but at least now Arsene Wenger has admitted that it is now extremely unlikely that the Chilean will be extending his current Arsenal contract. “He’s an Arsenal player in the short term. Now, will we manage to extend his contract?” Wenger said.
“We didn’t manage to do that last season so I’m not super optimistic in that regard, but we have the firm intention of not selling him.”
In the light of Sanchez returning late from Chile, and then missing the Community Shield and our opener against Leicester, it is looking like Sanchez has made his mind up to leave, but Wenger asserts that if he is forced to stay it should make him play even better in his final season. When a Bein journalist suggested that Alexis may not be so committed, Wenger disagreed completely. “You could say as well the other way round.” he replied. “The real question we have to answer is does the hunger index increase or decrease when you have a short contract or a long contract?”
“I would be on the opposite side. That means the hunger index is higher when the contracts are shorter and it decreases naturally when the guys have long contracts.
“Contracts mean a lot. When you sign them as a club, you have to pay the money for the player if he performs or not. That gives you a huge responsibility and gives a guarantee of income to the players. Overall, I believe that it has a meaning.”
We have had numerous examples of managers saying that they would not be selling their best players in the past including from Wenger, but it would seem that Alexis doesn’t really believe him. But IF Wenger really did force him to stay, do you think Alexis would he still put his heart and soul into playing his very best every week?
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