Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez Should Be Thankful For Arsene Wenger

Arsenal may have to part ways with Alexis Sanchez, but the Chilean should still be thankful for the spotlight shining on him at the Emirates.

Arsenal truly won with their signing of Alexis Sanchez and it should have amounted to so much more than it did. That is, assuming it’s over. What I am about to say is not a defense of leaving Alexis out against Liverpool, nor is it a defense of Le Prof’s inability to build this team up a bit better. It’s just a realization of sorts.

Gooners have come to the defense of the Chilean in the aftermath. This club has not amounted to what we would have thought when he first arrived in 2014. The titles have not come flowing in and there is plenty of disappointment to be felt there. The Champions League feels no closer to being a legitimate competition for the Gunners and barring a complete overhaul, it never will under this set up.

There is plenty of reason to side with Alexis and see how he can be so frustrated and plenty of reasons to not be upset with him if he leaves. At least not like Cesc Fabregas or that one Dutchman. Of course, I guess it depends on where he goes.

But at the same time, there is an equal amount of reasons to think that he should be more grateful for what Arsene Wenger and this club were able to do for him.

The Gunners gave him the unquestioned starring role in his own production. At Udinese he was an up-and-coming young man. At Barcelona he was a supporting cast member of an established powerhouse. But here at the Emirates, he was given his first big role.

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And sure, Alexis repaid it by putting in all of his effort all of the time. But Wenger bent the will of the team to allow him freedom. He gave him whatever he wanted, let him play all he wanted, barring this past match against Liverpool.

Now, the Chilean is one of the best in the world. He is thriving in the most competitive league in the world of football and he has become a superstar.

All because he came to Arsenal.

It’s not like Wenger dumped all over Alexis’s career and ruined him. Quite the opposite. He allowed him to thrive and become something bigger than he had ever been before. And that’s a pretty big deal.

You could make the argument that a number of Premier League teams could have done for him what this club did, but they didn’t. We don’t know what he would have amounted to anywhere else. But we saw him struggle with the Gunners and recover and come back stronger than ever.

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Arsenal has made Alexis Sanchez better. Maybe the major trophies didn’t come, but he should be thankful for that. And he probably is. Again, we have no way of seeing or hearing what’s said behind the scenes. I just hope that whatever happens here, Alexis understands that Wenger did, in the end, help him greatly.

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