Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has warned Alexis Sanchez that he needs to show commitment or the other Arsenal players will push him out.

Ferdindand was asked about how teammates normally react to failed moves. Alexis came very close to joining Manchester City on deadline day, of course, and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho clearly pushed for a move to Barcelona, although that one never seemed like it was actually going to happen, in my opinion.

In response, he said: “For me it’s all down one thing. If he comes in and says ‘listen I’ll hold my hands up I do want to leave, I’ve not been allowed to but you will still get 100% commitment from me and you’ll still see that day in day out’ then you respect that and say ‘yeah, you’re still with us’,” reports the Metro.

“If there is any negativity or you think that he’s giving anything less than 100%, the players will sniff it and they will wean that guy out.”

Alexis and Coutinho were so key to their teams’ successes last season that it makes sense that the other Arsenal and Liverpool players would be willing to give them another chance. If the pair take that chance, then until January there’s no problem.

If they don’t, then you have an issue, and the other players will know it. You can’t carry a player in the Premier League, especially if they’re usually one of your star performers. Arsenal will naturally tend to look for the likes of Alexis to make things happen, so if he’s not completely up for it, but keeps getting picked anyway, the team will suffer.

The Gunners can’t afford a season of hands being thrown in the air whenever anything doesn’t go the Chilean’s way. It puts the team under too much pressure and Arsenal have plenty of that coming from the outside already.