Arsenal front man Alexis Sanchez was controversially dropped from the starting 11 for the side’s defeat at Liverpool. Rumors swiftly surfaced that the Chilean international had stormed out of training earlier in the week and so manager Arsene Wenger saw it necessary to take the player out of the starting lineup for squad morale reasons. According to some reports, the forward had “angry words” with fellow players in the dressing room during training. The reason is believed to be that Sanchez clashed in an incident with another player in which many other players believed Sanchez was being unreasonable.
Alexis Sanchez is a player that Arsenal simply cannot afford to lose if the club is going to continue to develop and make positive moves forward. In times where Arsenal have appeared to be struggling it’s been moments of individual brilliance from the attacker that has got them out of dangers. To put it quite bluntly without him the Gunners wouldn’t be where they are now. You could potentially go as far as saying this season, in particular, the Chilean has kept his manager, Wenger in a job as many fans have called for his resignation following some disappointing results, most notably recently against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
These latest incidents have not only caused unrest in the Arsenal changing room but also fuelled the transfer rumor mill. Sanchez’s contract expires in the summer of 2018, provoking Arsenal to try and renew it but up to now the forward has been stalling upon signing a new contract and the reason is not yet clear. But one thing is for sure, this latest incident won’t be helping the North London side’s hopes of a contract renewal. There are rumors that many of Europe’s biggest clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are on alert and monitoring the situation.
From Arsenal’s point of view it probably wouldn’t be all that bad if a transfer did materialise in the summer. Although Sanchez is undoubtably their key player at the moment I don’t doubt that Arsenal would rather receive a decent chunk of money for their main man than to see him leave for nothing the year after. After all that money gained from the sale could then be used to reinvest. Some clever purchases in the transfer window could see Arsenal come out of the whole situation a stronger side. But it ultimately depends on who becomes available in the summer.
This might be a massive long shot but after some thought, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sanchez being sold in the summer and Arsenal securing the services of long-term target Karim Benzema. Given that Benzema has been rumored to be joining the Gunners for seemingly eternity I’m sure most people will be quick to dismiss this but this is why it’s more likely to materialize this summer than it ever has been. Over in Germany Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is looking more and more likely to be leaving Dortmund and he’s not been shy of making it common knowledge that his desired destination would be Real Madrid. Now Madrid isn’t going to be changing from their 4-3-3 formation anytime soon due to Bale and Ronaldo meaning that one of Benzema or Aubameyang would find themselves with little game time. Given that Aubameyang would be a fresh signing it’s more likely that Benzema would be benched more which I doubt he’ll be happy with. And so that opens up a move for Benzema to potentially join Arsenal. It’s a long shot but if Aubameyang joins Real Madrid then it’s not a bad shout to say Benzema could be on his way to the Emirates.
