Martin Keown believes that Arsene Wenger must demand a final flourish from Alexis Sanchez seeing as the Chilean is likely to leave Arsenal either in January or on a free next summer.
Keown reckons that now Wenger has pretty much told Alexis he can leave in January, the Chilean will be in better spirits and the manager should demand a final flourish from his star player from last season.
“Wenger is anticipating that Sanchez will be in a very low mood when he returns from the international break,” the former Gunner wrote for the Daily Mail.
“Sanchez has been trying to quit Arsenal for the last year or so, was unable to get his move on deadline day and now Chile have not qualified for the World Cup.
“To finally hear that he can leave in a matter of months is the news he has been craving.
“Now Wenger will be expecting to see a brightness in Sanchez’s eye at training on Friday, not one of resignation.
“Sanchez is a lion who wants to play football and I do not expect him to sulk. It is more likely that Sanchez will play against Watford than Mesut Ozil.”
I get where Keown is coming from but shouldn’t Alexis have been giving everything for Arsenal anyway? Just because he wants to leave doesn’t mean he should just stop trying. This should have already been his ‘final flourish’ as everyone and their mum knows he wants out. Surely that doesn’t send a good message to his next club?
The forward is yet to score in the Premier League this season and has found the back of the net just once in the Europa League.
While the 28-year-old still gets involved on the pitch, there’s definitely been a marked difference in his game.
Alexis’ lack of goals and assists have allowed his shortcomings to move into focus. The forward has always been a bit selfish and wasteful with the ball. Last season, he actually misplaced the most passes out of any other Premier League player in the final third (239). However, his 30 goals made up for it. This year, he doesn’t have those stats as a cushion.
Yes, Wenger should be demanding a final flourish from Alexis but whether he gets it is another matter.