Arsene Wenger has once again ruled out the prospect of selling Alexis Sanchez this summer and stated his “deep belief” that the forward will sign a contract extension to stay at Arsenal.
The Gunners boss first claimed in December that Sanchez would remain at the club until the end of his current deal in 2018 regardless of whether fresh terms were agreed.
Since then, Sanchez has cut an increasingly frustrated figure as Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League with a heavy 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich and fallen seven points off the top four ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League home game against champions Leicester City.
The 28-year-old was at the centre of a training ground bust-up last month with Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Chelsea and Juventus set to test Arsenal’s resolve over a potential asking price in the region of £50million.
Standard Sport revealed on April 13 that Arsenal have offered to smash their wage structure by proposing a package worth £300,000-a-week, although that figure includes a significant number of clauses, bonus payments and a degree of influence over Sanchez’s image rights.
Negotiations are ongoing but Wenger is confident an agreement can be reached. “Why? First of all, that he is happy here,” he said.
“His desire is as well to stay. That is what I deeply believe. The disagreements are more purely contractual.
“Not on the desire. Both parties have the desire to find an agreement, so I think it will happen.”
Asked whether the club are happy to risk losing Sanchez for nothing next year if a new contract is not finalised, Wenger added: “You amortise a transfer during the length of the contract.
“So when you play an amount of money, every year you deduct, when he signs four years, 25 per cent of a contract.
“The problem as well that you have to analyse, always, firstly, is: ‘Can you find better? For what kind of money?’
“The inflation is so big that sometimes today even mathematically there can be advantages to keep a player until the end of a contract.”
Wenger’s strong stance extended to dismissing the prospect of a reluctant sale to an English rival similar to Robin van Persie’s departure to Manchester United in 2012.
Like Sanchez, Van Persie had one year remaining on his deal at the time but Van Persie resisted a move to Juventus in favour of joining United for £24m.
Van Persie turned 29 just over a week before signing for United. Sanchez will be 29 in December but Wenger insisted the two situations are different.
“I let Van Persie go in the last year of his contract because Van Persie was 29, going 30 and he was signing a long-term contract,” said Wenger.
“That is not the case with Alexis. Alexis is 27. [He’s actually 28]. So that is a bit different. I personally think he will sign and stay here.”
Talks are also planned with Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the end of the season and Wenger, who is yet to publicly confirm he will stay on at the club once his deal expires in June, added that he expects both to follow Sanchez and stay put.