Arsenal fans have finally seen a whisker of attempt from their club as news emerged of the North-London club offering their star player Alexis Sanchez a whopping offer of £300,000-a-week.
The Chilean international has been the only good thing about Arsenal this season with the forward pulling the club single-handedly at times. He has scored 22 goals so far and registered 14 assists and his displays have even nominated him for the PFA Award. While nothing has progressed on the contract front for the South American star, this move surely instils a positivity among the fans, who are living a nightmare for the past few weeks.
Arsenal, as usual, are out of the Champions League, EFL Cup and the domestic title race with just the top four qualification spot to fight for. And given their recent displays that saw them going down to teams like Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion, even a Champions League qualification seems difficult now.
A remorseful season could easily be followed by stars leaving and the club shaken off its stability. And the board seems to have realised it well in advance as they are willing to break their wage structure to keep Sanchez. Now, if Wenger was not already the villain among the fans his take on the move has surely made it. The manager has not only refused any such offer but has also expressed his disagreement with such move by the club.
The Frenchman stressed in his pre-match press conference that offering such astronomical money to Sanchez or to any player at the club would be disrespecting the wage structure of the side. He stated, “We must accept that also modern life has changed a little bit and we always had a wage schedule that was respected, but players earn so much money now that the cases have become much more individual than global.”
The humungous wages that China is offering to lure highly-rated prospects is definitely at play here. A club from the Far East had offered Sanchez £400,000 earlier this year and we believe it has further made the player more ambitious. Wenger, however, has played down concerns from China.
He stated, “You make big money in England as well. So, you can combine the best combination of playing at the top and big money is in England at the moment. So, China for me is not a debate.”
We think what Arsenal really have to decide is between the manager and the player. At the moment, they don’t seem to co-exist. Arsenal doesn’t want to risk losing out on Sanchez now with Champions League uncertain; and if enabling the best player of the team a mammoth earner disrupts the dressing room environment, the club would have to deal with it.
Wenger is quite right in his argument but his ways have been hugely ineffective in the last decade, and the club seems to have started to overlook their old man’s advice now.
