Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez revelation game over for media’s narrative

Arsene Wenger took to the podium again to answer all questions Arsenal, which translated to all questions Alexis Sanchez, and one big revelation changed everything.

The game for Arsene Wenger has been maintaining a consistent story regarding Alexis Sanchez throughout the summer. But then again, it isn’t really a game if it is all the truth and even with the track record of Wenger denying that players were going to leave Arsenal, and then them leaving regardless, this time seems different.

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No matter the line of questioning or the phrasing or the specificity, Wenger has held to his original statement that Alexis Sanchez will not be leaving. There is no hesitation there. None at all. His repeated declaration of such has inspired more and more confidence, or at least it should have.

And Wenger revealing (in his latest presser on Arsenal.com) that this is different than in 2011 and 2012 also opened up a bit more, as we now have a reason why we should believe him this time and not see it as a continuation of previous assertions.

But there was one big question asked of Wenger that he answered with a single word and it’s this question that I think has stomped the media’s narrative into the dirt.

When asked if Alexis had specifically asked to leave the club, Wenger responded simply ‘no.’

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And that’s all I need to hear. Why? Because Alexis Sanchez also said that he had sent his request into Arsenal and was waiting on a reply. The speculation was that that request was to leave the club, but Wenger coming out and saying that Alexis has not asked to leave the club stomps out that speculation.

Because whether you like it or not, the word of Arsene Wenger holds greater merit than the word of the media. I wrote a couple days ago that the main fuel in this exit talk has been the media’s narrative of Alexis wanting to leave.

Granted, Alexis didn’t do much to quell that fire and was very vague in his responses, but he still gave us nothing concrete. Only that he was waiting on a reply. Which, as it turns out, was not a request to leave.

I imagine this won’t quell to many fears. There will still be that hesitation that Alexis will, at the very least, walk for free next summer. But let the Gunners get off to a fantastic start in the Premier League and then we will see what the media is telling us.

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Until I see or hear something specific from either Alexis or Wenger that related to an exit, I will put my faith in the word of Le Prof. So let’s see how that works out.