Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez stance should have evolved since summer

Arsenal may yet lose Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City before the end of the season, but their stance on his departure should have changed a bit.

Arsenal were on the brink of sending Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City this past summer. All that was required was Thomas Lemar coming over to replace him. It’s tantalizing to think how things could have been different had that monumental swap been enacted.

Now, though, it sounds as if City are back in to land the Chilean in January, rather than just waiting to get him for free in the summer.

With January still two and a half months away, Arsenal has time to think things through and evaluate where the team stands, but even in the two months since the summer transfer window closed, the club’s stance on Alexis’s exit should have evolved quite a bit.

In short, the club should be a bit more confident in letting Alexis go, even if an immediate counteracting move can’t be secured right away.

It sounds batsh!t crazy when taken at face value, but when you really look at the club and what has been working for them this season – a season that has seen them defy expectations and rise to fifth place – Alexis has been a big influence, as he always will be, but it hasn’t been anything otherworldly.

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It’s not like Alexis is the sole propellant of this attack. In fact, I would even argue that he hasn’t even been the most important player when he is in there. He has been another piece of the puzzle. Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Alexandre Lacazette, Sead Kolasinac, Hector Bellerin and Granit Xhaka have all had matches and moments of influence where they have been the primary instigators.

And those are just off the top of my head. Alexis is one of the bunch, not the leader of the pack. That shift in influence has to be seen by the club and forced a re-evaluation.

I have covered short-term options before, but just to summarize, if we sell Alexis and call on Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Reiss Nelson to cover until the summer, would anyone really not be okay with that? Especially with how much Welbeck has impressed before his injury and how much hype Wilshere and Nelson share?

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Even it if means getting such a small clump of cash in return for his actual value, it beats letting him walk for free. Plus it will give the team a chance to evaluate how much they realy need in the summer to fully replace him.

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