Want to play in the Champions League? Then help us get back in it
WENGER LAYS DOWN LAW TO UNSETTLED STAR
ALEXIS SANCHEZ has been told that if he wants to play in the Champions League, he must help to get Arsenal back into it.
Arsene Wenger could not have been clearer in response to Sanchez’s comments, saying he wants to play in Europe’s top competition.
It was a strong rebuff with a firm 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 it was 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 £50million if they let him go for free next summer.
Gunners boss 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 that 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 – and that is the most important for us.”
Wenger has laid down the law to players previously, promising not to sell Robin van Persie (above) – and ending 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. But he ended up selling them both a few weeks later – and denying he ever made the remarks. His latest comments were made in front of TV cameras ahead of Arsenal’s preseason friendly with Bayern Munich, in Shanghai, and, if they do end up losing Sanchez, they will certainly come back to haunt him.
The thought of Sanchez going to a Premier League rival, such as Manchester City or Chelsea, would be devastating for Arsenal fans and they would find it hard to forgive if Wenger goes back on his word.
But Wenger insists this time it will be different 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 that 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.”
The Gunners boss 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. You look at 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.”