Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez saga will breed one of two villains

Arsenal hasn’t had many purely positive superstars since the Invincible days, but Alexis Sanchez seemed to be the one. Or… maybe not.

There are not many athletes in the world who I think more highly of than Alexis Sanchez. From his work ethic alone, he deserved special status as a homemade, self-starting stud. There was nothing Arsenal needed more than someone like him.

Unfortunately, it is starting to look like Alexis’s own ambition has outran that of the team that so needed him. And while I can’t help but think that Alexis needed the stage that Arsenal provided just as much, everyone outgrows things. It’s a regular occurrence.

This summer, everyone wants to know what Alexis’s future holds, but it has not been easy to ascertain, given the deafening silence that has been pervading the rumors. It’s been so deafening that tabloids have been filling the airwaves with talk of Manchester City and Bayern Munich ready to swoop.

Of course, Arsene Wenger did say that Alexis isn’t leaving, but he has said similar things before to little effect.

I mentioned this towards the end of the season, but it’s getting dangerously close to another case of epic villainhood. The newest reports indicate that Bayern Munich have backed out, meaning that it can only be Manchester City that land the services of the prolific Chilean.

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We’ve been here before, only not so much in recent times. And that’s what makes it ten times worse this time around. This kind of move is the old Arsenal. This was a problem that used to plague us when we didn’t have the money to lock anyone down.

Whatever ends up happening, there is going to be one of two villains emerging from this story. Either Alexis Sanchez is going to emerge looking the most wicked player to ever pass through Arsenal’s doors (and don’t sell me that ‘he deserves better’ crap).

Or whoever (Ivan Gazidis?) is in charge of making an Alexis Sanchez a monetary value that was supposed to convince him to stay is going to emerge the villain, because we have the money now and it just isn’t being used properly.

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Whatever happens, everyone loses if Alexis leaves. They have supposedly given him an offer for a new contract worth £275,000, but that still doesn’t reach the heights that the Chilean was holding out for. So now we continue the waiting game knowing that we don’t really know much of anything.

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