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“The decision has been made and we will stick to that. The decision is not to sell.”
Arsene Wenger was his adamant self at press conferences in Arsenal's pre-season tour when asked about Alexis Sanchez's future at the club. The Chilean forward has been linked with Manchester City, Bayern Munich and PSG but the French manager is desperate to keep his star who heads into the final year of his contract.
However, Arsenal fans would be forgiven for not taking Wenger seriously. The past few years have shown that he does not always keep his word - which is sometimes not entirely his fault.
Here are a few instances when he refused to sell a player only to cave in and sell him anyway - in some cases to a rival Premier League club.
Note: This article was updated after the 2017 summer transfer window
1) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - 2017
April 2017: "I personally think it is vital that Chamberlain stays at Arsenal. I want Oxlade-Chamberlain to be part of Arsenal Football Club for the next ten years."
May 2017: "He has to commit his future to the club and hopefully he’ll do so in the summer."
July 2017: "I expect him to stay, 100%. No matter the speculation, he will stay."
August 2017: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain moves to Liverpool in a deal worth up to £40m.
After signing him back in 2011 when he was an 18-year-old, Wenger spent six years trying to develop the midfielder/winger into a potent attacking player. But the Ox's progress has been far from satisfactory.
However, the straw that broke the camel's back was the new contract extension offered which only increased his weekly wages to £80K/week. That was considered derisory by the player's representatives and the Gunners never had the upper hand in negotiations after that even though they significantly upgraded the deal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain took his time and a few days before dealine day he had a one-on-one meeting with Wenger, after which the Frenchman was resigned to losing him. But he did manage to get £35m up front for a squad player who would have gone for free next summer.
An alternate theory is that whatever Wenger said was all a ruse to jack up the transfer fee.
The only grouse Arsenal fans had was that the money was not re-invested in the squad as the north London club failed to land Thomas Lemar from AS monaco on deadline day.
2) Samir Nasri - 2011
When Samir Nasri joined Arsenal in 2008, a lot was expected of the talented young French midfielder who had been drawn comparisons with Zinedine Zidane back when he was a little kid making his way up the ranks.
Scoring a winner on debut was just the start as Nasri became an integral member of the Arsenal attack, scoring a number of beautiful goals in various competitions. But that was when Manchester City were luring players from Premier League rivals in an attempt to find instant success and Nasri was one of their targets.
Nasri was also in the final year of his contract but Wenger said he was 'clear' on the player's future.
"Samir's situation is clear for me. He stays. we are in a position where we can say 'No'." - Wenger in July 2011
Nasri started the season with Arsenal but he also made it clear to Wenger privately that he wanted to leave. The significantly higher wages were also too good to turn down.
City soon signed the Frenchman a week before deadline day for a fee in the region of £25m. And one of his reasons for moving was that City fans were "really passionate" compared to the crowd at the Emirates.
3) Emmanuel Adebayor - 2009
Following the dismantling of the Invincibles squad , Wenger chose a different route and almost the entire squad evolved from physically superior specimens to more technical players. The average height of the squad also diminished as Wenger's philosophy of keeping possession took over.
However, Wenger still had an ace in the hole with a beast of a player leading the line. The 6'3" striker from Togo was pretty much Wenger's answer to Chelsea's Didier Drogba. Adebayor was even named the African Footballer of the Year in 2008 after a tremendous season where he had scored 30 goals for the Gunners (including 24 in the Premier League).
That was the year Manchester City decided to spend their millions to rebuild the squad and compete. Adebayor's head was turned by the pay package and there was no way a financially burdened Arsenal could compete with City's wages.
"If he does not want to stay, he will leave. But I think that he will be still at Arsenal this season." - Wenger in July 2009
Adebayor's loyalty wasn't as strong as Wenger imagined and a fortnight later he put pen to paper at City in a deal worth £25m.
Sadly, he never lived up to that potential ever again and even angered Arsenal fans with a goal celebration that incited violence in the stands - leading to a two-game ban and £25,000 fine.
4) Cesc Fabregas - 2011
The Cesc Fabregas transfer saga was one for the ages. For two years Barcelona chased their prodigal son, with players such as Xavi, Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique also getting in on the act with comments in the press or antics such as putting a Barcelona shirt on him during Spain's World Cup celebrations.
Having joined the club as a teenager and spending eight years at Arsenal, Fabregas was indebted to Wenger for giving him his break and also handing him the captain's armband in 2008 when he was just 21.
Fabregas broke a few records in the Premier League and also became one of the best attacking midfielders in the league. But he yearned to return home and was torn between the love for Arsenal and Barcelona.
"I will be clear about this. Fabregas is with Arsenal for a very long time and he will stay." - Wenger in July 2011
Sadly, Fabregas had made up his mind by then. When he had the chance to leave in 2010, he chose to stay. But Arsenal were not making any progress while Barcelona were the best team in the world having won two Champions League titles in three years.
Fabregas was gone a month later for a fee in the region of £35m.
5) Robin van Persie - 2012
Not since the days of Thierry Henry had Arsenal had a world-class striker leading the line. Of course, they always had Robin van Persie in the ranks but his injuries never gave him a good run of games.
All that changed in January 2011 when he returned to the squad and almost won the Golden Boot in spite of playing just half a season - falling two goals short of the 20 scored by Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez.
The 2011/12 season saw him return with a vengeance even though both Fabregas and Nasri were gone. Van Persie almost single-handedly led Arsenal to the top four with 30 goals in the league and 37 overall.
And all this while, his future was in doubt with a contract that ended in 2013. And the sharks were circling.
“Our plan is to keep Robin van Persie even if we buy any player. Our desire is clean and clear. Robin is the leader of our club and I would just like to specify that he is not at the end of his contract. He is under contract until 2013." - Wenger in 2012.
But Van Persie had also become disillusioned with the club's lack of ambition in the transfer market. Knowing that he did not have many years left at the top, he listened to Sir Alex Ferguson's offer and took his chance at winning a league title for the first time in his career.
Meetings with Wenger proved to be fruitless and he eventually moved for £24m with Arsenal selling him instead of losing him for free in 2013. It was a move that did not go down well with the fans as United won their 20th league crown with Van Persie scoring 26 goals.
6) Thierry Henry - 2007
Following Arsenal's move from Highbury to the Emirates, most of the Invincibles squad was gone. Players such as Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires had moved on while Dennis Bergkamp had retired. The only ones remaining were Jens Lehmann, Kolo Toure, Gilberto and the club's biggest star Thierry Henry.
The seniors helped Wenger bring through a group of youngsters who would form the core of the side in the coming years as Arsenal looked to pay off their massive debt following the stadium switch. But Henry himself was restricted to just 17 games that season as injuries to his foot, groin and stomach ruled him out for weeks or months at a time.
Barcelona were keen on signing him in the summer of 2007 and speculation was rife that the 2006/07 season would be his last in an Arsenal shirt. But Wenger was quick to dispel any doubt.
"It is more down to imagination than anything else, Thierry Henry will be here next year." - Wenger in May 2007
But Henry had other plans. The departure of David Dein, the former vice-chairman of Arsenal who had signed a number of players in Wenger's early years, hit him hard and even Wenger's future at the club was unclear.
Although a move to Barcelona was not one to pass up, the club's all-time leading goalscorer also felt he needed to move on to allow the youngsters to grow.
"The fact that I was captain and my habit of screaming for the ball, they would sometimes give it to me even when I was not in the best position. So in that sense it was good for the team that I moved on." - Henry
Henry signed for Barcelona for a fee worth £16.1m and teamed up with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o to win the treble (and eventually the sextuple).
