What’s the story?
Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez claims he already knows what he wants to do next season but declined to give a detailed explanation on his future. Currently on international duty with Chile at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, the 28-year-old forward was asked whether he would be moving to Manchester City and he was non-committal on his future.
Having qualified for the final after a penalty shootout win over Portugal, both Bravo and Alexis were at the press conference when a reporter asked Alexis whether he would be Bravo’s teammate in club football as well with a move to Manchester City on the cards.
“Good question,” Alexis said while laughing. “Right now I'm focused on the Confederations Cup. When this is finished I will see if I stay or if I go. I don't know.”
The journalist then asked him whether he was clear on his future or whether he had not decided yet, to which he said: “Yes, it's clear. But I can't tell you.”
In case you didn’t know...
The Chilean forward’s contract at Arsenal runs out in 2018 and with only a year left on his deal, Arsenal do not want to risk losing him for free next summer. Alexis was the club’s top goalscorer in 2016/17 with 30 goals in all competitions and was the only Premier League player to reach double digits for both goals and assists.
But the Gunners’ failure to qualify for the Champions League has thrown a spanner in the works and the Chilean’s team holds all the cards in the contract negotiations. City boss Pep Guardiola is said to be interested in signing his former Barcelona forward in a bid to compete for the league title next season.
The heart of the matter
Alexis had mentioned towards the end of the season that he was disappointed with the club’s failure to qualify for the latter rounds of the Champions League while also falling out of the league title race in the manner they did. Although they did manage to win the FA Cup, the club only managed to finish fifth and qualify for the Europa League – the first time since 1998 they have failed to qualify for the competition.
City, on the other hand, are rebuilding their squad after finishing third. Guardiola, who finished a season trophyless for the first time in his managerial career, considers Alexis a proven goalscorer in the Premier League and a better option than Sergio Aguero who was benched a number of times this season. There were also reports of a swap deal with Aguero going the other way to bring Alexis to the Etihad.
Also read: Pros and cons of an Arsenal-Manchester City swap deal for Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero
Video: Alexis highlights from the 2016/17 season
Author’s take
There has been no official bid yet for Alexis with Juventus and Bayern Munich backing out. Bayern president Uli Hoeness also claimed that their policy is not to build a squad with “€100m transfers for 29 and 30-year-olds” so City seems like the only destination for the Chilean.
However, Arsenal are unwilling to sell to a domestic rival and should look to extend his contract. If he refuses, they would be wise to hold him to his current contract even if he does become a free agent next summer. The best thing to do for the Gunners would be to convince him to stay by showing their ambition in the transfer marker and with performances on the pitch rather than making hollow statements.
