Arsene Wenger certain Alexis Sanchez will not be sold - 'The decision has been made and we will stick to it'Wenger was quizzed on Sanchez’s future after the Chile star admitted he wants to play Champions League football next season
Alexis Sanchez was has been told if he wants to play in the Champions League then he must help get Arsenal back in it.
Arsene Wenger could not have been more clear in his response to striker Sanchez’s comments that he wants to play in Europe’s top competition.
Manchester City have been courting Sanchez and were given major encouragement after the Chile star admitted he wants to quit to play Champions League football.
Sanchez’s remarks clearly annoyed Wenger, whose response was so strong that he risks major embarrassment if he does not keep his promise.
Gunners boss Wenger said: “The decision has been made and we will stick to that. The decision is not to sell. I have not spoken to him (since the interview). But I can only reiterate what I have said before (he will not be sold).”
It was a strong rebuff with a clear message that he must accept his share of the blame for Arsenal not getting into the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
But also a warning that Arsenal will not be bullied into selling their star striker even though he has only one year left on his contract and
it could cost them more than £50m if they let him go for free next summer.
Wenger said: “We played 20 years in the Champions League, that’s 17 years before Sanchez arrived and three years with him so he can get us back in there.“The main focus for us is to concentrate on the Premier League and the Premier League for me today is more important than the Champions League. We rested players sometimes in the group stages of the Champions League for the Premier League, so that’s become the biggest importance for us.”
Wenger has, of course, laid down the law to players previously, promising not to sell Robin van Persie - and ended up flogging him to Manchester United in 2012.
The Frenchman was even stronger in 2011 when he admitted that Arsenal “could not be considered a big club” if they sold Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas. And ended up selling them both a few weeks later and denying he ever made the remarks.
These ones were said in front of TV cameras ahead of Arsenal’s pre-season friendly with Bayern Munich in Shanghai and if they do end up losing Sanchez then they will come back to haunt him.The thought of losing Sanchez to a Premier League rival - like Manchester City or Chelsea - would be devastating for Arsenal fans and they will find it hard to forgive if Wenger goes back on his word. But Wenger insists this time it will be different from the past because Sanchez is a different case from van Persie who also had a year left,
Arsenal did not want to sell to a Premier League rival and it was also a saga which lasted all summer.
Wenger said: “Every case is different, Van Persie was going from 30 to 31, when he left he had one year on his contract. Sanchez is younger.”
Wenger also played down the importance of the Champions League - and insisted he could not understand Sanchez’s remarks.
“No, not really,” said Wenger. “We have a group of players with top quality. After that, you look in the Premier League in the last two years.
“The last two champions - Chelsea and Leicester - have not played in Europe at all. We have to focus on the Premier League and prepare well.
“When you play in the Champions League, everyone says: ‘Is that all you do?’ Suddenly when you don’t play in there, it becomes a major problem. At the end of the season, only one team can win the Champions League and all the teams move out of it.
“We have to focus on the competitions we play in and prepare seriously for that. We can’t feel sorry for what we do not play.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsene-wenger-alexis-sanchez-transfer-10820725
