According to Matt Hughes of The Times, Arsenal forward Alexis Sánchez, who showed just why he’s so highly coveted around Europe with a fantastic individual performance in their FA Cup final win over Chelsea, is “determined to force his way” out of Arsenal this summer. Good news, right? Not quite.
Alexis, heavily linked with Chelsea for much of the past few months, including at one point supposedly putting the Blues at the very top of his list of potential clubs to join, is now apparently more keen on Bayern Munich. Those stories where Alexis wanted to stay in London thus get thrown out alongside that Chelsea-led shortlist.
Sanchez determined to pursue move to Bayern; Ozil to stay but reluctant to sign new contract. https://t.co/9so0iKB06U
— Matt Hughes (@MattHughesTimes) May 31, 2017
And it’s not all just paper-talk around Alexis. Here’s his international teammate and potential future Bayern teammate Arturo Vidal with a bit of public wooing.
“I told him it was the opportunity for him to be in a big team. If he wants to compare with the best, he has to go to the best team.”
Vidal and Sánchez are about to spend a good few weeks together with Chile as they prepare for the 2017 Confederations Cup. Plenty of opportunity for Vidal to continue whispering sweet nothings into the 28-year-old’s ear.
Bayern were recently linked with Chelsea’s own Willian as well. They appear to be looking for a right winger and there are few better options out on the market right now than Alexis. Arsenal may be reluctant to sell, especially after tying down Arsene Wenger to a new contract, but their recent history suggests otherwise — they’d probably be more agreeable to letting Alexis leave to a non-Premier League team.
Chelsea might have to start looking elsewhere (or re-double our efforts), if we haven’t already begun to do so.