Alexis Sánchez mess is another example of how Wenger is hurting Arsenal | Nick Miller

Mar 05, 2017

Arsène Wenger’s reaction to Sánchez’s behaviour was a halfway house that demonstrated Arsenal would be better off with a new manager

Every week seems to bring a new episode in the Arsène Wenger endgame. Calamitous results, the same old frailties, worn excuses and now it seems a training-ground row with Arsenal’s best player. Alexis Sánchez now looks very likely to leave the club after arguing with Wenger and his team-mates, a disagreement that led at least in part to his omission from the starting XI for the defeat at Liverpool on Saturday.

This development really acts only as confirmation of what even the most amateur of body language experts may have suspected for a while. Sánchez has cut an increasingly irked figure in recent weeks, stalking the pitch and bawling out his colleagues like a man who would much rather be somewhere else. When Wenger is asked about this latest development on Monday, at his press conference for the second leg against Bayern Munich, he may well comment that training-ground arguments happen all the time, which they do, and play down its significance. But when combined with the prevailing mood around the club, recent results and the Chilean’s contract, due to expire in the summer of 2018 and with little apparent enthusiasm from the player for a renewal, this cannot be written off as an isolated incident.

Tags: Alexis Sánchez Arsenal Arsène Wenger Football Sport