Tag Archives: Alexis Sanchez

Arsenal star tees up a sick day

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We all know that colleague who, at around lunch time, starts coughing a little. Nothing to obvious. Just a little splutter every now and again. As the afternoon go’s on, the coughing increases. They start making a bit of a noise. Oh I’m feeling a bit rough they mutter loudly to themselves, just as the boss walks past.

They appear to be battling on, bravely. The cough is annoying you, but they can’t help getting a little sick. See you tomorrow they say, as they skip out the office. As they walk down the road, the cough miraculously disappears. It is like leaving work has cleared up their oncoming illness. So they go to the pub, to meet their mate, which they had prepared to meet that evening previously.

Of course, when they started to feel ill in the afternoon, they did consider letting their pals know that they would flake out. That they would not turn up, as they were feeling rough, planned to eat a curry, have a glass of hot whiskey and lemon, and get an early night. So that they would be at work the next day.

But their instant recovery has changed their mind. They go to the pub. Meet their mates. Have some beer. A lot of beer. And stumble through their day at 2am with a kebab in hand.

And 6am when their alarm go’s off, suddenly they do not feel to great. It isn’t the 10 pints, or the kebab they ate, or the 4 hours sleep, it is that dreaded cold that was coming on yesterday afternoon returning with vengeance.

So they text their boss real sorry Steve. Feeling rough today. That cough I had yesterday has turned into full blown flu. Real sorry about this but I will not be in today.

And they roll over, go back to sleep, before waking up at lunch, going KFC and spending the afternoon playing FIFA, cuddling his dogs..

They think their colleagues are none the wiser. Imagining them sitting their saying poor Alex, he looked like he was getting ill last night, I hope he is OK, as they pick up his work load, to ensure that when he is well enough to work, he does not have too much of a back log.

The reality is we all know what happened. Alex spent an afternoon setting up a sick day, because he knew he was going out on the smash with his mates. He knew he would be hungover the next day, but was unable to book the time off, as it was short notice, and he had used all his holiday up on a 4 week trip to Chile earlier in the year.

And this is basically what Alexis Sanchez is doing, via the modern method of social media. Rather than coughing in the office, he has stuck up on Instagram that he is ill. He is due back to training with Arsenal on Sunday, but he will be too ill to fly. Wrapped up in his duvet in Chile with Atom and Humber licking his shaft. And the speculation begins…

Keenos

The 7 steps of an Arsenal ITK

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Step 1 – Announce a deal is done. Completed. Everything agreed. Your source has told you the transfer value, the salary, the contract duration, and whether he hangs to the left or right.

Step 2 – Abuse any other ITK who’s “information” conflicts your own. You are right. They are wrong. Point out they just guess the transfers. Whilst you know everything. They are a fraud. You are the real deal.

Step 3 – If the deal has not yet been completed, find an excuse. “The deal is done, just waiting for the selling club to agree”. So the deal is not done then?

Step 4 – Set yourself up for an easy way out. Keep the line that everything is agreed bar the fee. If it falls through, say that they could not come to an agreement. It was not that your source got it wrong, they only had Arsenal’s side of the transfer. Of course, ignore the fact that you said the deal is done a week ago.

Step 5 – Remind people that the information is not your own. You were giving the information by someone who was previously reliable. It is not you who got this wrong, it was your source.

Step 6 – Delete all your tweets on the subject. If anyone brings it up again in the future, just put out the line my source got this one wrong. Your source never seems to get one right though…

Step 7 – Announce a deal is done. Completed. Everything agreed. Your source has told you the transfer value, the salary, the contract duration, and whether he hangs to the left or right.

Keenos

Some Alexis Sanchez thoughts…

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The Alexis Sanchez saga is set to be an epic, likely to roll on for the entire summer as he tries to get himself the best deal possible.

Sanchez wants to win trophies, but he also realises he is perhaps set to sign the last big contract of his career, so money and duration is equally as important. Here are a few of my thoughts.

If Arsenal get a big offer – we are talking £50m+ – from abroad, we would sell. There is no point keeping a player who does not want to stay at the club, especially someone as openly emotional as Alexis Sanchez. Even if Arsene Wenger does not want to sell hi, his hand could be forced by the board – £50m is a lot of money to turn away.

The two problems are:

  1. Will a side be willing to offer Arsenal £50m?
  2. Will a side offer Sanchez the terms he wants?

On the first point, in the current market, £50m would be a steal for one of the best attacking talents in the world. On paper (yes, I have been watching a lot of Love Island) it is a no brainer.

But then Sanchez is 29 in December. His game relies on him being dynamic. He relies a lot on pace and acceleration. As he gets older, these attributes diminish quickly.

Players who rely a lot on explosiveness deteriorate quickly – Freddie Ljungberg the perfect example.

Ljungberg was a limited football, but was lightening over 10 metres. This made him so dangerous. But as soon as he lost this lightening spring, he was done as a football.

Sanchez has more to his game than Ljungberg, but will still deteriorate when his pace and explosiveness go’s. Think Thierry Henry or Fernando Torres.

Whilst Sanchez is an extremely skilful player, he does not have attributes to play Number 10 once his legs go. He does not have the first touch, vision or passing to play in the most congested position on the field. You only have to see how often he gives the ball away – more than any other player in the Premier League – to realise he would struggle in behind a striker. He does not have the technique of a Dennis Bergkamp or Mesut Ozil. Even the likes of Juan Mata and Jack Wilshere would be better suited to the tight spaces behind a striker than Alexis Sanchez.

So for £50m, a side would be buying an ageing, explosively talented who, at any point, could fall off the cliff. It is why the likes of Bayern Munich are not interested. He is not as technically good as Arjen Robben or Frank Ribeiry. It is doubtful if he will be able to adjust his game sufficiently to still be an asset once his legs go.

Of course, over the next 4 years, his legs might not go. And anyway, the likes of Manchester City can easily afford to sign a player for £50, just to get 2 years out of him at the top level. Look at how much they have wasted over the years. The £100s of millions they have written off on players mot good enough.

Reports are (and they are just reports) that Manchester City are willing to pay Alexis Sanchez £300k and offer him a 3 year deal. This would protect Manchester City against the potential drop off that Sanchez might suffer as he passes 30.

Sanchez is apparently holding demanding a 4 year deal, remembering that it is his last

Alongside a £50m transfer fee, Manchester City’s 3 year deal for Alexis Sanchez would cost them £96,800,000 in total – £50m in transfer fees, £46,800,000 in wages. This would amount to 8.2% of Manchester City’s yearly turnover across the next 3 years.

Were Manchester City to bow down to Alexis Sanchez’s 4 year demand, his contract would be worth £62,400,000. A total of £112,400,000 across a 4 year period. Affordable to Manchester City, yes, but a big chunk of cash that they would have little to no chance of recouping in a sale.

Arsenal meanwhile have an ace up their sleeve when it comes to contract offers.

Without having to pay a transfer fee, Arsenal could potentially give Alexis Sanchez the 4 year deal he is demanding.

We Arsenal to offer Sanchez a 4 year deal at £250,000 a week, the total payment to Sanchez would be £52m. That is £5.2m more than Sanchez would earn over a 3 year deal playing for Manchester City.

This is where Sanchez has to think about the long term.

Over the first 3 years of the deal, he would earn more at Manchester City. But once that contract comes to an end, Sanchez would be 32 years old. Would he be able to secure a deal elsewhere on £100,000 a week? And what if his legs go completely? He certainly would not earn that returning to Chile. So he might be better off signing a deal at a lower wage with Arsenal which last longer, and over the period of his contract, earns him more.

It would also give Arsenal an opportunity to move Sanchez on after 2 (or 3) years if he does begin to deteriorate. In 2 years time, he would still be able to make a big money move to China. Another last contract and Arsenal would be able to get a bit of cash in.

Were Arsenal to offer Sanchez a 4 year deal at £250k a week, the total cost to the club (excluding tax) would be £52m. Arsenal would look to spend that much on a transfer fee alone to replace Sanchez. Add wages on top, replacing Sanchez would cost Arsenal in the region of £80-90m, and we would be getting in a player who is probably not as good, and probably more of an unknown.

If Sanchez turns down a decent offer for Arsenal, he knows where the door is. Arsenal are capable of offering Sanchez a decent contract, a decent length, and trophies (3 FA Cups in 4 years remember – City have won 1 League Cup in 3 years).

I also think that Sanchez staying or going has no bearing on Thomas Lemar joining.

Thomas Lemar is just 21 years old. You can easily rotate him, Sanchez and Ozil in a two behind the striker, keeping all 3 happy, whilst giving all 3 a rest when needed. And if we return to 3 behind a striker, he would start every single time.

It would also allow Lemar to develop at his own pace, and hide in the shadows behind Ozil and Sanchez in the short term, before taking over from one (or both) of them in a couple of years time when, still lat just 23 year old, he would potentially be on of the best players in the world.

And unlike Sanchez, Lemar has the technique to play Number 10.

So my final thought of the day. Offer Sanchez 4 years at £250k. Sign Lemar. If Sanchez rejects the deal, with have his replacement in place. If he accepts it, we have squad depth and could then flog Sanchez in 2/3 years knowing we have a player ready to step up and be world class.

Keenos