Arsenal are off on their pre-season tour, first in Australia then to China to meet Chelsea in Beijing next weekend, but they are without Alexis Sánchez, who’s still back in Chile getting an extended holiday after his exertions for the national team at the Confederations Cup. And if Alexis has his way, Arsenal could be without his services for even longer.
Here he is talking to journalists back in his hometown of Tocopilla, where some sort of football tournament was getting underway.
Alexis Sanchez: "I want to play in the Champions League. The decision isn't down to me, I need to wait for Arsenal." [@RadioSportChile] pic.twitter.com/OKTtAb4nUm
— Matias Grez (@matias_grez) July 15, 2017
Alexis: "I've made my decision, now I wait for Arsenal's reply. The idea is to play & win the UCL. I've dreamt about it since I was a kid."
— Matias Grez (@matias_grez) July 15, 2017
Not for the first time, Alexis has made it clear that he wants to leave Arsenal. Arsenal of course have been adamant that they are not selling, and would rather have him play out the final year of his contract in protest before leaving for free next summer. Their resolve in that hasn’t really been tested just yet and prior evidence would suggest that they will relent eventually — as they should, Alexis will fetch a tidy sum. But Arsenal still might stand firm on their intent to not sell to the Premier League, be that Manchester City or Chelsea. Earlier reports claimed a €90m asking price — i.e. hands off — quoted for City.
Still, with Chelsea missing out on Romelu Lukaku, a strong play on Alexis could be in order.