Arsenal powerless to prevent Robin van Persie 2.0

Jose Mourinho is reportedly desperate to sign Alexis Sanchez. Whether true or not, Arsenal are now powerless to prevent Robin van Persie 2.0.

The future of Alexis Sanchez is uncertain. That is not a groundbreaking statement. In fact, it is utterly obvious. That is what happens when a disgruntled player whose contract has been mismanaged, such that he is allowed to enter the final year of it where he will be able to pick his new club on a whim, nearly leaves on transfer deadline day, only for the deal to be pulled thanks to circumstances elsewhere — Arsenal believing that they could not complete a deal for a replacement, namely, Thomas Lemar.

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Consequently, Sanchez now enters the final few months of his current contract, and likely his North London career, still unsure of where he will be playing his football from next summer.

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Given that he will be available on a free next summer, there will undoubtedly be several clubs wanting to try and secure his services. Manchester City chased him hard last summer, submitting offers of £50 and £60 million. Bayern Munich were consistently linked with a move, as were Paris Saint-Germain and even Chelsea.

It is reasonable to expect all of these teams to again be pursuing Sanchez next summer — foreign clubs can actually reach a pre-contract agreement from six months before the expiration of the Chilean’s current contract, so there could be a fight for his signature this winter.

However, one of the clubs that was not rumoured throughout the summer, that is now, reportedly, interested in Sanchez, is Manchester United. Per the report, Jose Mourino is desperate to nip ahead of rivals Manchester City in a bid to continue bolstering his own squad while preventing them from doing the exact same.

Now, I am somewhat struggling to believe these reports. If Mourinho was genuinely interested in Sanchez, then why did he not make an offer in the summer when other clubs were? However, irrespective of the validity of the report, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger are utterly powerless to prevent Sanchez from joining United.

When Robin van Persie left for United, it was on the decision of Wenger to sell him. However, this time around, with Sanchez threatening to be van Persie 2.0, there is nothing that Wenger can do to stop it from happening; if Sanchez wants to leave the club, then he can leave for nothing.

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The more and the more that I think about failing to secure Lemar as a replacement for Sanchez, the more it becomes a greater error in judgement. However, that is the decision that was made and Wenger must now face the consequences of that.