Sanchez gone ... will Wenger be next?

LONDON: When Manchester United last bought a player from Arsenal, then manager Alex Ferguson complimented counterpart Arsene Wenger on the hard bargain he drove in selling striker Robin van Persie, saying the Frenchman “could run a poker school in Govan”.

That reference to the raw end of Glasgow where Ferguson grew up suggested Wenger had extracted the maximum possible from a difficult situation in ensuring United paid the then hefty £24 million for the Dutch striker.

Five and a half years on and it is unlikely Wenger will receive any pats on the back for his part in Alexis Sanchez’s exit from Arsenal, a move that all but confirmed how far the London club have fallen behind the Premier League powerhouses.

While Van Persie departed a year before his contract expired after, like 29-year-old Sanchez, rejecting a new deal, the Chilean has followed the same road for a knockdown price six months before he could walk out of the club for nothing.

Theo Walcott, another mainstay of the Wenger years, joined Everton last week, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is starring for Liverpool after threatening to run down his contract last year, while Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil can leave The Emirates for nothing at the end of the season. Yet Wenger remains in place.

It is hard to remember a time when the 68-year-old Frenchman has appeared less revered or under greater pressure, although Saturday’s thumping of Crystal Palace will at least support his argument that they have talent in the wings.

But now that Arsenal’s creative dynamo has gone, that win is unlikely to silence calls for Wenger’s departure. — Reuters