When Arsene Wenger says that a player will not leave his club, fans better worry.
The Arsenal manager’s most difficult task this summer seems to be convincing Alexis Sanchez to hold tough at the Emirates but, if you trust Wenger, that battle has apparently been won.
Throughout the window, Sanchez had been linked with a move to Bayern Munich, Manchester City and, most recently, Manchester United.
And while no deal has been done in terms of a contract extension, Wenger has told the media that Sanchez will be going nowhere this summer.
“The decision has been made and we will stick to that,” Wenger said of his top scorer last season. “The decision is not to sell.”
Well that’s that then, right?
Wrong!
Supporters were quick to remind their manager of what he’d said ahead of the ultimate sales of players such as Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas in years gone by.
“Our plan is to keep Robin van Persie, even if we buy any player,” Wenger said of Van Persie in 2012 before he eventually went to Manchester United while he said he felt Adebayor “will be still at Arsenal this season” three years earlier ahead of his transfer to City.
Similar statements were made on the futures of Nasri, Fabregas and many other players so maybe fans shouldn’t take the Frenchman at his word and hold off until pen is put to paper.
Wenger is a business man. He sold RVP to united. Ashley Cole? Sagnal? Nasri? Clichy? Adebayor? All Wenger needs is a good fee
— ⛔️ Roosevelt Avi (@Dato_Roosevelt) July 17, 2017
Wenger said the same about Nasri, Adebayor, Van Persie and others. They will wait until the end of the window and sell I think.
— Jordan-Luke McDonald (@ByJordanLuke) July 16, 2017
Wenger sold RVP, Cesc, Nasri, Adebayor etc and you’re here telling us Sánchez isn’t going anywhere? ???? https://t.co/CH2HFEUVmT
— ❡. (@peterswanelo) July 16, 2017
I’m confident the player wants to stay: Wenger said that about:
Fabregas
Nasir
RVP
Adebayor. They all left in the end.— Paulo Joao (@Paulo_Arsenal) July 16, 2017
It was put to Wenger that the situation with Sanchez, should he end up leaving, would be quite reminiscent of Van Persie’s departure five years ago but the Gunners boss shot that down with the below remark.
“Every case is different, Van Persie was going from 30 to 31, when he left he had one year on his contract,” Wenger said. “Sanchez is younger.”
Well fans have pointed out another issue with that comment as, in fact, the Dutchman turned 29 just days before signing for the Red Devils, meaning that negotiations would have begun when he was 28, the same age Sanchez is right now.
https://twitter.com/AmpliaLaFamilia/status/887266907937796096
Wenger is such a liar, RvP was 28 when he left https://t.co/gK7TNHZRjT
— . (@OA365__) July 18, 2017
Wenger is straight lying to the fans. RvP was only like 4 months older than sanchez when we sold him..
— Recoba10 (@Recoba101) July 18, 2017
