Arsenal: What Is Arsene Wenger Smoking?

Arsene Wenger has stated that he expects Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to stay at Arsenal. As Liverpool’s owner John Henry asked, what is he smoking?

There has been one prevalent narrative that has hung over Arsenal’s season: the futures of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Entering the season, both had delayed contract talks on numerous occasions with the club and were edging towards what seemed to be a likely exit come the 2017 summer.

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As the year has progressed, such a premonition has only become more prevalent. Sanchez, especially, has visibly grown increasingly frustrated with life at the Emirates, enjoying strops on the sidelines, barking at teammates and training ground bust-ups. And now, with the summer approaching and contract talks hold until the end of the year, the question on everyone’s lips is whether the two will stay with club.

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Arsene Wenger was asked that exact question in his pre-match press conference before Sunday’s crucial hosting of Manchester City in which Arsenal are in desperate need of a win to haul their way back into the top four positions. He revealed that he hopes both will stay, suggesting that they are wanting to remain with the club:

"“I think he’s [Sanchez] happy here. We have not extended his contract, I hope he will stay at the club. It happened before when we had to sell our best players. But that’s not the case anymore. He has one and half years contract. I don’t think it is an immediate concern for Arsenal. I personally believe both of them want to stay. I hope the club will find an agreement with them.”"

That is certainly an ambitious claim to make. While Wenger obviously has much more insight than a mere humble blogger like me, he has made such egregious claims in the past and missed the mark. In 2011, he declared that both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri would stay at the club. Neither did. Just a year later, he said exactly the same regarding Robin Van Persie. And we all know how that worked out.

But that simply does not align with the narrative of the season. Neither have committed beyond the end of the season and both are seemingly pining for a greater chance to win trophies, with Wenger and the club seemingly fail to match their ambition for trophies.

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Such comments from Wenger simply lead me to ask, as Liverpool owner John Henry did when Wenger made the ridiculous offer of £40 million and £1 for Luis Suarez: ‘What are they smoking at the Emirates?’