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Arsenal Continuously Achieving Mediocrity Will Force Alexis Sanchez Away
Ian Wright has commented that Arsenal’s struggles in qualifying from their Champions League group could be the catalyst in seeing Alexis Sanchez looking elsewhere to ply his trade. It isn’t just the struggling to qualify. Wright also hinted that the continued lack of ambition shown by Arsenal may also push Sanchez out the door. He stated that “all [Arsenal] talk about is, ‘Yeah, we qualified again’, then you get in and normally we’re out by the last 16.”
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This is a team that claims to be one of the biggest in Europe. A team who charges their fans some of the highest ticket prices in world football. They cannot be content with simply aiming for a fourth place finish in the Premier League in order to achieve Champions League football. Once qualifying, both club and fans should also be aiming higher than reaching only the last 16.
Arsene Wenger has regularly boasted of his record at leading Arsenal to qualifying for Champions League football 16 years in a row. Yet while Arsene Wenger feels this is something to be immensely proud of, teams like Bayern Munich or Barcelona are regularly reaching semi-finals and finals of the competition, or winning it outright. These are the same teams that we were meant to be on par with since moving to the Emirates Stadium.
Boasting of such a statistic, when ultimately it means very little, highlights how unambitious Arsene Wenger has become. And if the manager of the team shows such little ambition, why would his players have any desire to stay and continue to achieve mediocrity? Particularly the world class players, of which we have very few.
Perhaps the best player we have is Alexis Sanchez. The man is genuinely world-class. Alexis Sanchez not only has raw talent, but he has a hunger and desire to be the very best. This trait is often found in world-class players. This hunger and desire regularly translates into his style of play, a style that mixes technical ability with an incredible work rate. Alexis Sanchez never gives up. He gives 100% for the entire 90 minutes. He trains almost daily, pushing himself to always be at the top of his game.
Arsenal fans love Alexis Sanchez primarily due to the desire and work rate he shows. His natural, world-class talent is almost secondary. It’s this desire and passion to be the best, however, that may be the reason that we end up saying goodbye to Alexis Sanchez all too soon.
Why on earth would a player of his quality want to remain at Arsenal and only achieve mediocrity? He will have seen his ex-team mates at Barcelona win the Champions League last season. Then he looks at his current team on the brink of not even qualifying from their group. This would force any player of his quality to question his future with the club.
Alexis Sanchez is, remarkably, only 26 years old. He is on the brink of playing in his prime years, and potentially some of his best football. He will want his style of play, his constant gut busting performances for the team, rewarded with genuine title challenges and the biggest trophies available. If he does not envisage being rewarded at Arsenal then he will simply leave for a club that can provide him with the silverware a player of his class deserves.
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It is obvious that Alexis Sanchez has a love for Arsenal Football Club already. He looks to genuinely enjoy playing for the club and has a great affinity with the fans, something he thrives upon. He enjoys being the main man, and no longer being under the shadow of Messi. I genuinely believe that Sanchez wants to win the big trophies with Arsenal. The worry is that he may not be given the chance.
We have seen it all too often; our best players leaving because the club and/or Arsene Wenger do not meet their ambition to win top silverware. Alexis Sanchez is a different class of player, perhaps the best we’ve had since King Henry. He deserves to be surrounded by other world-class players. He deserves a manager that can create a team that will win the big games, that will challenge and win big competitions.
If Arsene Wenger and the current board of directors continue to show a lack of ambition, if they continue to be satisfied with doing the bare minimum to achieve financial gain over on-the-field success, then Alexis Sanchez will leave. If a player of his class leaves at the prime of his playing career then it will be all that harder to attract other top talents.
The longer that we wallow in mediocrity the closer we are to losing one of the most talented players to grace the Arsenal shirt. Arsene Wenger has a tough job on his hands to convince Alexis Sanchez that his future belongs with Arsenal, and unless that is a trophy laden future, it may very well be an impossible task.
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