Tuesday 9 January 2018

Adiós Alexis

Let's be straight down the line here. Alexis Sanchez is on his toes. 

It's no big secret. Arsenal have as much chance of keeping him beyond his contract as I do taking Gal Gadot down the boozer and then making sweet, sweet love to her all night. And then having a bit of a bacon sandwich in the morning. 

It ain't happening. 

So the inevitable will happen and Alexis, along with Atom and Humber chomping on their bag of kibble, will be off to pastures new. Most probably in sunny Manchester. The blue side.

The question is when? It's either gonna be this January or in the summer when Manchester hits a sweltering 4°C. 

Now I'm not gonna dig Sanchez out for leaving the club. Obviously when he signs for City I'm going to call him a slag but right now I'm a bit rational.  

He signed a four-year-contract when he joined the club and has basically fulfilled his end of the bargain. Not many players see out their contracts in this day and age and to be honest I've not seen him badmouth the club despite him being apparently 'desperate' to leave us.

I'm firmly of the belief he's not been 'desperate' to leave us at all. I could well be wrong but I think he's been quite happy to sit this season out with Arsenal because he knows full well the riches he will get in 2018.

I'm not going to call Sanchez a money-grabber. Far from it. In fact I say good luck to him to be honest. 

His agent probably had a word in his lughole last summer and told Alexis to keep his nut down and don't bark, sorry, say a word about leaving The Arsenal. 

The man is 29 years old now. This is the last massive contract he will get in his life because in dog years he is now about 129. So I don't blame him.

The contract and bonus offer is humongous as the transfer fee will be tiny or there will be no fee at all depending on when he leaves. 

Who would turn down all that money? I wouldn't. 

Money, in my opinion, is the biggest factor in Sanchez moving to City. And with the riches, and the bitches, for Atom and Humber, it's a win-win situation for him.

At City he will earn serious poppy. He could buy Pets at Home in Manchester centre and play with puppies all day long after training.

And let's be fair, while the money is great he's also going to be playing for Manchester City who, it pains me to say, will be in the mix for titles and Champions Leagues the next few years under a bald git called Pep who is a fantastic manager. 

Now I know I keep mentioning the money he will earn, well for me that the biggest reason he's held out on his contract. But honestly as well, the fact City will be competing for the big trophies in the next few years will be a big factor in his decision too.

For me I am gutted he will be leaving but also it's a relief as it dragged on for such a time and it's become really tedious. It's boring. 

The way I am trying to look at it is that Arsenal have had the best few years of his career. Well, certainly the most productive. He's 29 now and played every summer since 1972 without a rest so maybe it is actually the right time for him to go.  

It's easy to say we should have tied him up on a long-term contract a couple of years ago and yes in an ideal world that'd have been great. Who knows? He might of agreed a deal in principal only for him to turn it down last summer?

Looking at the situation Arsenal and Arsene were in last summer it's a difficult one with Sanchez only having a year left on his deal. I feel for the club, and Wenger, because they were slaughtered by everyone when RVP left the club a few years back for the same thing.

I felt that Arsenal were right to keep him this season, and I'm sure Wenger felt Sanchez would be still be focused but sadly it might not work out. 

Maybe the best thing would have been to try and sell him then but we'll never know if Sanchez may have dug his heels in to see out his contract? We'll probably never know either way.

For me, in my opinion, he stayed knowing he'd have so many options in 2018. And I don't blame him. If he was desperate to leave he'd have handed in a transfer request but by doing that he'd have lost money. 

Make of that what you will..........

At the end of the day I'm not going to slag him off and it's a shame really there's so much animosity and anger over him going for various reasons. 

I'll remember Sanchez as a great player for Arsenal who got better and improved after leaving Barcelona. I'll remember him for helping us win trophies and lastly I'll never forget those damn beautiful dogs.

Keep It Goonerish..............