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Arsenal: Patrick Vieira is right and wrong at the same time
Patrick Vieira has stated that Arsenal should sell Alexis Sanchez because he wants to leave, meaning that he won’t give his best for the club. In general, Vieira is spot on, but in this instance, Arsene Wenger needs to keep the Chilean.
The controversy of Alexis Sanchez’s future will run and run and run. As soon as Arsenal pulled out of the £60 million, deadline-day transfer to Manchester City, it was clear that such debate would occur. In the increasingly vociferous modern game, it was inevitable.
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The main issue has centred on the Chilean’s commitment to the club. Can a player who so clearly wanted to leave the club, but was denied such an opportunity, give his all for the team? Arsene Wenger was adamant that he would. Others are less sure.
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The latest to question the decision to keep Sanchez is Patrick Vieira. His reasoning is very simple: No player is bigger than the club; if he wants to leave the club, then he should be sold. It is a very obvious and, actually, valid argument. Here is what he said in full:
"“When a player wants to leave a football club, I think they should let him go. When a player doesn’t want to stay at a football club anymore, he’s never going to give 100 percent and he is never going to give you his best. And I believe when a player wants to leave the club, you should let him go because there is no player bigger than the club.”"
In general, I do agree with what Vieira says. No club should be held hostage by a player; if a player wants to leave, and will subsequently not be fully committed to the team, then they should be sold. Football is hard enough as it is. Playing with a disinterested, unmoved, dispassionate player only makes it harder.
But in this particular instance, I have to disagree with the Arsenal great. Because, in this instance, Arsenal need Sanchez. Even a 70% Sanchez will still have a huge benefit in their attempts to haul their way into the top four and qualify for next season’s Champions League. And that will, in turn, aid the process of replacing Sanchez next summer.
It will be extremely difficult to find and acquire a player capable of reproducing what Sanchez offers in the notoriously tight and turgid January transfer window. And selling him without replacing him is absolutely not an option.
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It would, therefore, be best for Wenger to keep Sanchez until the end of the year, allow him to leave on a free, but hope that, in his staying, he will help the team qualify for the Champions League. Vieira, generally speaking, is spot on. But here, he misjudges the needs of the club ever so slightly.