Arsene has two days to save his legacy
ARSENE WENGER faces the biggest 48 hours of his two decades in charge of Arsenal as he decides whether one last throw of the dice is necessary to preserve his legacy at the club.
The 67-year-old has spoken at length about the “sporting reasons” to keep Alexis Sanchez to the letter of his contract, even if there is the financial cost of allowing him to walk out of the exit next summer for nothing.
However, the disturbing start Arsenal have made to the season has highlighted yet again the need for more fundamental change at the Emirates. Ironically, Wenger now has a rare opportunity to wipe the slate clean.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was poised with his pen in hand at England’s training base at St George’s Park yesterday, but it was neither the £180,000-a-week contract Arsenal have offered him nor the signing-on forms for Chelsea after a £40 million deal was agreed. Instead, he was cheerfully fulfilling his autographed merchandising duties while the clock ticked down on a possible late bid from Liverpool to give him another option aside from Stamford Bridge.
Kieran Gibbs did, however, move closer to ending his Arsenal career with a £5m deal close to completion that will take him to West Brom.
If Sanchez was also allowed to leave, it would give Wenger one last war-chest with which to try to repair the damage that is being done with every passing season to his reputation at the club. Eight goals in three games is further reminder to the Frenchman that he needs to build from the back, and although they were not able to tie it in with the Gibbs deal, his interest in signing Jonny Evans from the Baggies is no secret.
Now the former Manchester United defender could become the vital cog in a transfer merry-go-round set to spin right up to the final hours of the transfer window.
Evans would prefer a move to the Etihad, but if Manchester City withdrew their own interest in him it could help ease through a move for Sanchez. At the same time, Tony Pulis will not allow the £30m-rated centre- back to leave without a replacement in place. Luckily, City’s Eliaquim Mangala is his preferred candidate – a further opportunity for Pep Guardiola to grease the wheels.
A bigger headache for Wenger is that any money he makes for Sanchez would probably end up burning a hole in his pocket until January at the earliest.
His current over-blown squad seems to have swamped the recruitment process this summer and Wenger would have to move quickly to construct a deal from nothing in the final hours. Making Raheem Sterling part of a Sanchez transfer is not ideal, but could at least bridge a gap. Arsenal have got every confidence that Sanchez will be professional and they have no concerns about the player’s commitment if he is forced to see out his contract. In fact, the opposite is more the problem – Sanchez letting his seething desperation to win affect team morale. Symbolic actions such as sitting on his haunches in Munich caused resentment last season; that is likely to explode into anger from players who see him preparing to desert the ship.
Better, surely, for Wenger to try to rebuild squad harmony with some fresh faces and draw a line in the sand behind all the turmoil that surrounded the end of last season.
While it is unthinkable that the Arsenal board is ready to dispense with his services just yet, Wenger knows another gloomy season of failure would be intolerable at a club he loves. Forget his two-year contract – if he gets the next two days wrong, the countdown to his departure will begin in earnest. Sanchez looks set to be his crucial final conundrum.