Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Alexis Sanchez’s wage demands were too high for Arsenal to pay, which proves how badly the Gunners wanted Mesut Ozil to sign a new deal.
Despite everyone and their mother going on about what a professional Alexis is and how he just wants to play football, the rumours surrounding his wage demands at Arsenal refused to die down over the season.
Now, Wenger has described the Chilean as a ‘prime example’ of a time the club hasn’t given in and granted a player their request for a massive weekly pay check.
“You know you will see [players running down their contracts] more and more, that players go to the end of a contract. I said that many times. Why? Because there’s expected inflation on the wages.
“The demands are so high that you cannot always give in. The Alexis example is a big one,” Wenger said, reports Arsenal’s official website.
Interestingly, Wenger said this just days after Arsenal made Ozil their highest ever paid player.
The boss also backed the midfielder to become a leader at the club, saying, “He has committed his future to the club in a period where we are in a trick [sic] position on that front, in qualifying for the Champions League.
“You expect that he becomes the leader and takes the responsibility to lead the team to success.”
According to the BBC’s David Ornstein, the 29-year-old will be earning £350k-per-week before tax.
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Although Ozil’s not collecting anywhere near the £600k-per-week Alexis is reportedly getting at Manchester United, that’s still far more than anyone imagined Arsenal would pay.
It just goes to show how much the playmaker means to the club.
Arsenal are willing to move heaven and earth to keep Ozil in north London but Alexis seemed to be easy to let go of. Obviously there were other issues with the forward and, by January, he just wanted out.
Ozil’s new three-year contract is a massive deal – in every sense of the word – but he’s worth every penny.
Alexis…not so much.