Let's assume he doesn't want to sign a new contract with us (which I personally don't think he does at the moment, but you never know). Firstly, I haven't exactly plucked that figure from thin air. Google it. All the media outlets are reporting if he's that desperate to go to City and equally, if City are that eager to buy him, they're going to have to pay £80m to acquire his services. Inter Milan are also reportedly interested in Alexis, but I'm willing to bet we'd be inclined to sell him abroad for a lower price than what we've asked City to pay for obvious reasons. One would hope that we have learned our lesson in not strengthening a direct rival after the scandalous decision to sell van Persie to your lot. Secondly, he can talk to foreign clubs in 6 months. English clubs would have to wait until he is closer to the end of his contract. If he really wants to stay in the EPL and work under Guardiola again, Man City will have to pay a premium price or risk waiting a year. If they risk waiting a year, he could agree terms with a club in Spain, Italy, Germany or France. Possibly China as well if he's just looking for a big payday. Alternatively, if Arsenal perform better than he expects in the upcoming season, he may feel like we are matching his ambition and choose to sign a new contract with us. So do they leave it or do they go all out and get the man they allegedly want so bad? The figure isn't that laughable when you put it all into context. Especially with how exorbitant transfer fees are in the current climate. Irrespective of how long he has left on his contract, Sanchez is hot property in the market at the moment and there aren't any players of his calibre that are in an identical situation to the one he is in. We've not got much to lose at this stage, so we are entitled to drive the price up if we wish to do so.
Totally agree with your post. When you do a risk assessment on selling Sanchez to a direct rival then we not only stand to lose our best performing and skilled player, but we also lose the contribution he brings in goals, assists and overall influence to the club, on and off the field. Add to the fact that City are already a strong team, getting top 4 will be the hardest it's ever been this season, with everyone else strengthened or already strong. If we don't properly challenge or get top 4, we will end up losing further money and standing in the PL and Europe. We all know that getting a replacement in Sanchez will be difficult and anyone new will need time to find his feet. The likelihood of anyone new replicating Sanchez's output is tough. In my opinion, our main objective should be to keep him, even at the risk of losing him to a free transfer. Having Sanchez would give us a significant edge and be more competitive, than getting a new player to replace him. We would offset the loss by challenging for the PL/getting CL qualification and bringing revenue from those to recoup the loss money. If not that, our next priority is selling abroad for less money. This would stop a direct rival from being significantly strengthened and make it easier for us to achieve a top finish. The last option is selling to a direct rival for a very high price. This would allow us to get a big player and offset any losses should we not achieve a top finish. We shouldn't need to go for the last option due to our strong financial position.
I know he still hasn't signed a new contract, but this is more positive news http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40566112
To be fair Sanchez hasn't said much himself, so far it's paper talk at the moment. Stay for another year and see how it goes for us and for him. If we get another top forward then this may fill him with more passion to stay. A player of his calibre wants to play for the best or for the club to show ambition. So far we have shown that we are after the best players by buying Lazacette, with another hopefully to follow.
Agree. Even if he signs a one year deal with an assurance that he can leave if he wants at the end of next season. Personally I think this saga is going to turn out okay for Arsenal
I think it's a win win situation either way. Even if he leaves after his contract runs out, the chances are he'd have helped us get CL qualification or better yet, win the PL. Getting CL will offset any financial loss we have should he choose to leave, but probably by then, he would sign another contract. In my opinion, i'd say signing Lemar or Mahrez will be a tipping point for us to achieve something really significant in the PL.
Sanchez needs to be kept no matter what, one year of Sanchez is more valuable than anything Man City can offer, because in this current market to replace someone who provides 30 plus in goals and assists, we are looking at spending upwards of £90 million, plus that player might not even be interested in joining us, Sanchez won't sulk if he does not get his way in terms of wanting to leave, because the bloke just loves to play football, and will give it his all no matter what. If we sell Sanchez to City, you can basically write off the season, because it would just underline how gutless our board and manager are, plus from game one, the atmosphere will be toxic around the club.
I think it slashes the odds massively that Sanchez is leaving. He is looking great in the new kit. Worth buying, looks very nice.
It makes a lot of sense financially for Sanchez to stay with AFC for another year and then sign a new contract as a free agent with a club he wants to play for. Next year he will still be in demand and able to command a huge price. This is a no brainer really, it would be stupid for him not to do it. He said himself that his "future is clear", and staying until the end of a contract and then leaving is the only option that can be possibly described that way. All other options are not clear by default, since all other options need negotiating and signing a new contract, either with Arsenal or some other club.
Sanchez has been quoted as saying 'he doesn't know where he will be next Season but he wants to play in the Champions League'. Not looking good unfortunately.
"I've already taken my decision, but now I depend on Arsenal and to see what they want," "My idea is to play in and win the Champions League. It's a dream that I've had since I was small. For now I'm at Arsenal and my contract finishes in another year." http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...de-my-decision-with-his-arsenal-a3588896.html Doesn't sound too good eh ?
Yeah exactly. Nope. We are gonna need an Mbappe quality player to replace his contribution. Wenger needs to convince him to stay - just pay him whatever he wants IMO.
Actually the full quote that Piskie posts doesn't sound as bad. He said he wants to win the Champions league but says it's up to Arsenal on his fate. He doesn't explicitly say he wants to leave. He kinda just let's it linger a bit.
I don't know mate. I'm usually pretty optimistic but I can't see anything positive in this comment. Sounds very much like he wants to leave. But I think the club should keep him for the final year of his contract and then let him leave on a free if he wants to go next season. I know some people will say we should cash in now. But look at it this way. We're offering him something like £300k per week as opposed to the £120k-£150k he's on now. So if he doesn't sign, we keep him on his existing contract and we save something like £8m in wages over the next year. Also given that he's 29 in Dec with 1 year left on his contract and if he's made it clear he wants to leave, we're not going to be able to command the £80m cited above. I'd say more like £40m tops. We keep him for another season, he will graft because that's what he does and who knows we might even win the league with him and Lacazette (possibly Lemar too) and he might change his mind. If not, he goes to City (probably) and we lose out on something like £20m-£30m. But what are we going to get for that money this window if we sell him to City now ? Absolutely **** all. We'd strengthen a rival and weaken ourselves, not worth it for that money. Also this is about principle for the club, they told us that there is no way they are going to sell him to a rival. This is the time for them to make good on that promise.
if it was me I would say to him that he has 2 options: 1 sign a new 4 year contract with us with a ridiculous £120m release clause or 2 don't sign a new contract and just sit on our bench and don't get any playing time for the whole of next season, so it ****s you for the World Cup !! We will sell him in last day of the window to City...... in all probability
It's largely our own fault for allowing this situation to arise in the first place. 1. Not renewing his contract earlier 2. Not signing any world class players since him and Ozil joined. As tempted as I'd be to tell him that he'd be benched, we need him in our team, even if that's only for one more season. Selling him to City doesn't make any sense. It would be a psychological blow to weaken ourselves whilst strengthening a rival and for the £20-£30m we'd lose in revenue (see above) Sanchez would likely aid us to qualify for the CL again where we'd recoup that money. Perhaps even more than this though, we need to demonstrate that we won't buckle and sell our best players when a rival comes sniffing.
I disagree about the contract as it takes both sides to agree and no-one knows how much we have actually offered him and how far apart we are - it might be that we made the right offer in the beginning but he still didn't sign as he wanted to move on. So the high wage demands (knowing they won't be met) could have been a ploy to run down the contract ! I am sure that the thought of not being part of the World Cup next year would be higher than not being in the CL so we should play hardball.