Could Arsenal be better off by selling Sanchez?

Daniel Storey

Assume the position for straw-clutching. It might not be a popular opinion but could Arsenal be better off for selling Alexis Sanchez? Daniel Storey tries to convince both you and himself…

 

Having demotivated players is no fun at all
When asked by assorted journalists what he thought of persuading eligible players to turn out for England, Gareth Southgate was crystal clear on the issue. Predecessor Sam Allardyce had mentioned residency rules as a means of attracting new talent, but Southgate disagreed:

“If you don’t feel that internal 100% passion for England, then I’m not sure it’s for me to sell that to you. It should be your desire to do it. Although I’m always willing to sit down with players, it should be them coming to us. I get that we are competing against other countries and players want to feel valued at all times. But the inherent desire of wanting to play for your country is the most important thing.”

Although Southgate was making a clear distinction between club and international football, there is a crossover in what the England manager says. We may be set for a summer of ‘will he, won’t he’, but Sanchez’s unsigned contract already tells you enough: The Chilean’s morale is low. That can be evidenced by his haranguing of teammates, harrumphing after being substituted and general frustration in his lot.

Sanchez is a fabulous player, but there is little to be gained from Arsenal throwing money at a problem and hoping it solves all of their star attacker’s frustrations, because it won’t. As with Liverpool and Luis Suarez, there is a growing sense that if the player doesn’t want to be there, the relationship has reached its natural end.

Selling that player then becomes the only feasible option. If that sounds like Arsenal are powerless and that frustrates you, remember they benefit from the same or similar scenario when signing players.

 

‘One-man team’ is not a compliment
It’s a very one-eyed way of judging a player’s excellence, but Arsenal have hardly flourished for their reliance on Sanchez. This season in the Premier League, he has scored or assisted 51% of their goals, created 21% of their chances and accounts for 28% of their shots on target. Successful teams are not reliant on one attacking player, but the attacking unit in combination. Can the same be said of Arsenal?

While Sanchez is in form, depending on him is entirely logical; he has the talent to win matches almost single handedly. Yet as soon as Sanchez stalled (whether through fatigue or a lack of motivation), so too did Arsenal’s league form. Then Wenger had to turn to Theo Walcott, Alex Iwobi and Olivier Giroud and ask them to solve a problem that had beaten Sanchez. Two of those have previously proved themselves incapable and the other is not yet ready. It’s like asking your Uncle Dave to escape from the same chains that Harry Houdini struggled with.

An attack is only as good as the sum of its parts. Arsenal rank joint sixth for shots on target in the Premier League this season, and sixth for the creation of what Opta defines as ‘big chances’. They trail Manchester City by 20 in that latter category. This is absolutely not blaming Sanchez for that – the opposite in fact – but does his demand to see so much of the ball make Arsenal one-dimensional?

 

He turns 29 in December
Age is no barrier to success, as Jermain Defoe’s international renaissance demonstrates, but there must be an acceptance that Sanchez is likely past his peak. Now 28, Sanchez’s all-running, all-dribbling, all-tackling style is endearing, but has a detrimental physical effect. Wenger has regularly spoken of his player’s almost superhuman powers of recovery and energy levels, but superhuman does not exist.

Adam Bate recently pointed out the drop in Sanchez’s numbers for sprinting and distance covered, interpreted by critics as evidence for his decline in attitude. Another explanation is that Sanchez is simply knackered. Wenger has run Sanchez into the ground because he is his finest attacking weapon. He has suffered through the paucity of other options, and the uniqueness of his skills.

While measuring a footballer’s age in years can be misleading, measuring it by games played is far more accurate. Sanchez’s appearance for Chile on Tuesday night was his 619th senior career match, astonishing for someone aged 28, and he is rarely substituted and even more rarely used as a substitute. More impressive still, he has played 288 matches since the beginning of 2012/13. Put it this way, he is on course to have played more football than Wayne Rooney by the same age, and you can add in regular trips to South America.

Those figures are alarming for anyone expecting Sanchez to peak after turning 29. More likely is that the soft tissue injuries he has largely avoided until now will become more frequent.

 

It would facilitate the hard reset Arsenal need
Any discussion of Sanchez inevitably becomes a discussion of Arsene Wenger, for that is where all Arsenal roads lead. Yet even if the manager does stay on for yet another two years, something must change. I don’t buy the club-driven PR spiel that Wenger will take Arsenal to “the next level” any more than most Arsenal fans do, but all agree that real change is needed.

Believing that change starts with a club selling their best attacking player is admittedly optimistic, but it would provide Wenger (or his replacement) with the funds to carry out an overhaul rather than attach a series of low-cost sticking plasters to gaping wounds. Whether you consider that overhaul likely under Wenger probably depends on your continued faith in the manager and his bosses, but in truth that’s where my optimistic assessment ends. I did try.

 

 

You make the best economic decision for the club
The Evening Standard’s James Olley reported on Tuesday that Arsenal had set a price tag of £50m were Sanchez to leave this summer, and you don’t have to live at 221b Baker Street to deduce that the club were pointedly informing both Sanchez’s representatives and potential suitors that their best player will not be sold on the cheap.

The likelihood is that £40m will be enough to force Arsenal’s hand should Sanchez make his desire to leave public, and it is hard to argue that such a sale would not make fiscal sense given the length left on the Chilean’s contract and his age.

Arsenal have rarely proved themselves adept at receiving high fees for their want away players, with the £29.8m Barcelona paid for Cesc Fabregas their only sale for more than £25m. Fabregas was 24.

Daniel Storey