As March rounds into April, one thing that will probably not stay in the third month is the Alexis Sanchez-Arsenal transfer saga. The married couple dispute hit another new bump this week, as the Chilean forward gave an interview stating that he could leave Arsenal next summer if he is not sold by the club in the next two transfer windows.
Alexis was also largely misquoted by British press during the same interview, when he stated that he would like to stay in a city for a long time, and build a winning club. The rabid soccer press in the UK translated his comments to mean that he would like to stay in the city (meaning London) and join a winning club (meaning, probably, Chelsea). So, no, that interview did not clue people in correctly to Alexis’s plans regarding his next club, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be staying a Gunner either.
For his part, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger came out on Wednesday saying that he is confident that both Alexis and midfielder Mesut Ozil will stay at the Emirates this summer. He took Alexis’s comments to mean that the Chilean wants to compete for titles at Arsenal, saying that “Alexis said he wants to win the championship, that’s what everybody wants.”
Rumors have swirled around about Alexis possibly leaving Arsenal since before this current Premier League season kicked off, and they’ve only intensified since.The buzz reached it’s highest peak (so far) in early March, when news leaked out that Alexis had walked out of training after a dust-up with teammates.
With reports that this could be Wenger’s last season at the helm of the Gunners, and with Arsenal’s continued failure in Europe following their 10-2 aggregate elimination from the Champions League by Bayern Munich, Alexis’s various comments throughout the season have made an exit look more apparent by the week. This week’s interview might have quashed reports that he would be moving to Stamford Bridge in order to join Chelsea, but the door is very much still open for a summer exit if the right team (with the right amount of money) comes calling at Arsenal’s phone.