The failure to sell Alexis Sanchez with one year left on his contract could cost Arsenal more than $91 million in the short term and $91 million in the long term.
That’s according to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who said that the club missed out on recouping funds for Sanchez while admitting it would cost another $91 million to sign a significant player as a replacement. Sanchez can leave Arsenal on a free transfer next summer should the Gunners not sell him at a likely discounted rate in January.
“You take a Sánchez into the final year of his contract, you sacrifice 60-70million income and at the end of the season you will have to buy somebody for that amount of money,” Wenger said, via beIN Sports. “It has a huge price so at some stage you have to make a decision, you have to sacrifice one or two.”
Sanchez is coming off a rough week, having not been able to complete a proposed move to Manchester City compounded by two straight defeats with the Chilean National Team, suffering criticism from the Chilean fans and press. And just before the international break, Sanchez’s first appearance this season for Arsenal came in its 4-0 mauling from Liverpool.
In a post on his Instagram page, Sanchez hit out at the team’s critics.
“You get tired of being criticized with reason and without reason, you get tired of wanting to be defeated, you get tired of saying to yourself “I’ll get up again” after crying after a defeat, and you get tired of telling the world and people who are with you, that everything is going well,” Sanchez wrote. “And the worst, that no one ever realizes how that makes you feel … I have the back of Chile and it is a huge responsibility, that’s why I’m sorry that journalists and bad people criticize without understanding.”
It will be interesting to see whether Sanchez’s anger and disappointment affect his play, or whether he can put it behind him and lead Arsenal back up the Premier League table.
Arsene Wenger expects Alexis Sanchez to be "very quickly back to his best" for Arsenal despite the uncertainty which surrounded the Chilean star in the final days of the summer transfer window.
Arsenal agreed a fee with Manchester City for Sanchez to leave, but the deal collapsed because the Gunners were unable to complete the signing of Monaco winger Thomas Lemar in time.
Sanchez cut a forlorn figure in the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool prior to the international break, over which he endured more misery with Chile in the World Cup qualifiers.
But Wenger has no doubts about the character of his star player.
"I have no doubt about Alexis' mind and mentality, that people question," the Frenchman said.
"He needs to come back to full fitness, which he was not (at) against Liverpool. It was his first game, and he has suffered a negative experience with Chile.
"But he is strong mentally and hopefully he will be back very quickly to his best."
Wenger would not go into detail on how close Arsenal came to selling Sanchez on transfer deadline day.
"The transfer market is over, there was a lot going on on that front. It's very difficult for me to speak about that because the most important thing now is our next game," he said.
Best XI players out of contract next summer
Asked whether any Sanchez sale hinged on bringing in Lemar, Wenger added: "That's what I read everywhere, yes. My view is that it is too difficult to speak about that because Lemar is now in Monaco and of course Sanchez is here.
"I believe you have to keep a certain confidentiality about transfer negotiations. Many things happen at the last second."
Wenger quickly moved on to giving his backing to closing the transfer window before the season starts. Premier League clubs are expected to discuss bringing the deadline forward at a meeting on Thursday.
"It is important that we change that and close all that stuff before the championship starts," he said.
You can see in the games even in the players' minds they have no clarity - are they in, are they out? - and are they being tapped up by people in the game who want to get them out?
"It is not a way to work and it is uncomfortable. It is time to kick that out before the season starts."
Wenger said it was "not true" the Lemar deal failed because the player was not interested in joining Arsenal.
"He decided to stay in Monaco and you have to respect that," he said.
"The player has a three-year contract to go - so overall you have to respect that.
Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal are paying a 'huge price' in 'sacrificing' Alexis Sanchez by letting him leave the club for free at the end of the season rather than sell him before. Wenger stood firm and rejected Manchester City's transfer deadline day bids for his wantaway star player after failing to land Monaco's Thomas Lemar as a replacement. The French manager estimates that it will cost £70million to replace Sanchez if - or more likely when - he leaves next summer, despite having a £92m bid for Lemar accepted by Monaco on deadline day. 'You take Sanchez into the final year of your contract, you sacrifice £60-£70million income and then at the end of the season you will have to buy somebody ...
You take Sanchez into the final year of your contract, you sacrifice £60m-£70m income and then at the end of the season you will have to buy somebody for that amount of money,' said Wenger in an interview with beIN Sports. 'So it has a huge price. So at some stage you have to make a decision you have to sacrifice one or two [players].'
The move for Lemar fell through with Arsenal claiming they did not have enough time to complete the deal. But it has also been suggested that 21-year-old France forward did not want to move to a club outside the Champions League.
Wenger also bemoaned the hyper-inflation in transfer fees that he says is 'completely disconnected to reality and the truth', and used the example of Ousmane Dembele's move to Barcelona in the wake of Neymar's world-record switch to PSG to illustrate his point.
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