Arsenal and Alexis Sanchez: Getting out at right time?

Arsenal swapped Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January. With unrest at Old Trafford surrounding the Chilean, did they get out at the right time?

The Alexis Sanchez really did drag. By the end of it, I almost didn’t care what happened. I just wanted it to end. And, in the end, it did, mercifully. Sanchez was traded away to Manchester United, with the equally unwanted Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming the other way.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast right here

Six months earlier, on deadline day of the summer window, Arsenal rejected a £60 million bid by Manchester City amid concerns that they did not have the time to complete a move for a viable replacement, the only available one being Thomas Lemar at that stage.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Looking back, that was a mistake. Sanchez sulked his way through the first half of the season, disrupted the dressing room, performed below what was expected of him and ultimately left for a value far less than that. But hindsight is twenty-twenty vision, as they say, and it is easy to look back and regret.

But now, after spending half a season at Old Trafford, it seems as though even swapping for Mkhitaryan was too much for the Chilean, even with no money swapping hands. That is the viewpoint of one high-ranking member of Arsenal, according to the Manchester Evening News, who quoted the individual as saying:

"“I can tell you that United have overspent.”"

Certainly, there is a very viable argument to be made that Sanchez was sold at the right time. This time last year, I was arguing that Arsenal should not sell him, the reason being that they should run him into the ground in his final season at the club, allow him to leave on a free knowing that he would be turning 30 in December of the following season after playing a whole lot of domestic and international football without many summers off for some time.

I still stand by that reasoning, but it seems that perhaps the fatigue of age has hit the usually vivacious winger earlier than even I anticipated. He certainly did not look his normal self last season. His relentless effort was absent, he did not hound and harass as before, his pressing was subdued, his ankle-snapping, street-fighting style diminished.

And then there is the personality problem of Sanchez. Mohamed Elneny tweeted out that at least players who were willing to fight for the shirt remained after Sanchez’s exit. At United, there have been rumblings that players are not happy with his selfish nature, his egocentric style that leads to dispossessions, clustered dribbling and foolish, long-range shots.

Next: Arsenal: 3 players perfectly suited to a role

Perhaps, then, Arsenal got out at just the right time. Certainly, Sanchez has a lot to prove at United and there is a growing happiness around the Emirates that he is no longer present. That suggests that the tone is shifting. Maybe, then, Sanchez’s end is nigh.