After Arsene Wenger left Alexis Sanchez at home for Arsenal’s trip to Bournemouth, we’re rounding up what we know so far about the Chilean’s situation.
On Saturday, Goal reported that Sanchez’s family have arrived in London, as they anticipate an imminent move.
At the time, that move seemed most likely to be to Manchester City, but the media also linked United and Chelsea to a bid. Goal wrote that Arsenal were demanding a £35m transfer fee, and Sanchez’s agent wanted £5m for himself.
Then, on Sunday, the Manchester United links got even stronger. The Daily Star claimed Mourinho was ready to meet the asking price. They also said the Chilean’s agent was demanding even twice as much as previously reported, at £10m. United are no stranger to those sorts of fees, as Mino Raiola apparently earned around £50m for the combined transfers of Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku.
Wenger left Sanchez out of the trip to Bournemouth, giving a further hint that the Chilean could be on the way out. Before the match the manager insisted nothing was decided, but said there will be developments soon. The manager told Sky Sports (via Arseblog): “He’s being vague at the moment. His situation is not completely decided, one way or the other so I left him at home.”
Then, on whether a decision is imminent, he said: “Yes, don’t read too much into it because even I don’t know which way it will go.”
Post-match
After the match, Wenger confirmed that they would decide the Chilean’s future within two days. He didn’t give any further indication of what that decision might be. If you start leaving a key player out of the squad, it suggests to me he’s going somewhere else.
Wenger confirms that Sanchez's future will be decided in the next 48 hours.
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley_) January 14, 2018
The Daily Mail and The S*n both agreed that Manchester United are offering £350,000-a-week in wages. According to the latter, Manchester City’s offer is £290,000-a-week. Combined with the fact only United will meet Arsenal’s asking price, and it doesn’t look good for City fans.
The talk around Arsenal is that Alexis is United bound according to John Cross.
Either way, it doesn’t look good for Gunners supporters either. The team were almost completely devoid of any creative spark in another limp defeat against Bournemouth. Mesut Özil should help in that regard, but the club can’t rely entirely on one player for the rest of the season.
Hopefully the club resolve Sanchez’s situation quickly, but that includes bringing in a replacement. Otherwise they may as well not bother resolving it at all.