Arsenal: ‘Covinced’ Arsene Wenger Deluded With Sanchez And Ozil

Arsene Wenger has stated that he is convinced Alexis Sanchez will sign a new Arsenal contract. Unfortunately, he seems more foolish than factual.

There are defining seasons in many club’s histories that have long-term consequences. Manchester United’s 1990 season in which Sir Alex Ferguson was nearly fired if not for an opportune, late FA Cup win against Nottingham Forest, the inauguration of the Premier League in 1992, Arsene Wenger’s first year at Arsenal, all the way back in 1996.

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All these seasons, along with many others for many other clubs, have had direct and indirect ramifications, rippling through the football world like a stone dropped in a pond.

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This year has the feel of another defining one for Arsenal. Wenger’s contract expires in the summer, and could leave in a little over six months, the likes of Per Mertesacker and Santi Cazorla, two ever-present figures at the club are also facing potential exits, while Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are in the midst of contract talks that are as resolved as the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Wenger, though, is strangely optimistic regarding the talks of his two most significant contributors:

"“Alexis Sanchez is a committed player who wants to stay. I’m convinced we’ll find an agreement. It has to be in our potential. When the players want to stay it’s easier to find an agreement. We can certainly find an agreement. You cannot put the club in jeopardy as well for the players. I think no matter what happens we’ll try to keep them [Ozil and Sanchez] and we’ll go as high as we can and if we cannot go further, we cannot go further. We are not scared to spend the money, and we are not scared to show the players we love them and we want them to earn big money.”"

Despite the ongoing news, the rumours of departure and the potential of the big-money in China that Wenger briefly referred to in passing, the Arsenal manager is ‘convinced’ that Sanchez and Ozil will sign with the club, extending their stay in North London. While that is perfectly conceivable, even perhaps probable, the strength of the word ‘convinced’ seems a little overzealous, a little ambitious, perhaps even deluded.

Wenger is an experienced manager, one of great knowledge and intelligence. I bow to his far superior understanding and insight regarding the contract talks of Ozil and Sanchez. However, merely as an outsider, as an external perceiver, from reading the tea leaves, the chances of retaining the services of both, particularly Sanchez, someone who stormed off the pitch after suffering a lethargic display from his seemingly apathetic teammates, seem uncertain.

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I hope to be the fool in this situation. I hope to be wholly and utterly wrong and for Wenger to, as he so often has done in the past, come up trumps. But, and it is a significant one, it is a mere hope, not an expectation. The ‘convinced’ Wenger is yet to convince me of anything.