Ian Wright has hit out at Arsenal’s shambolic handling of the Alexis Sanchez transfer saga, claiming his old club would have been better off selling the want-away forward.
Arsene Wenger had maintained all summer long that the Chile international was not for sale, despite having entered the final 12 months of his contract.
But the Arsenal manager appeared to perform a dramatic U-turn on deadline day by agreeing a sale on the proviso a deal for Monaco’s Thomas Lemar could be struck.
Reports claimed Sanchez, currently on international duty, had even told his Chile teammates he would be joining Manchester City, only for his dream move to collapse with Arsenal unable to persuade Lemar to join them.
‘It’s bad business to let Sanchez walk out next year for free,’ tweeted Wright, the club’s second highest goalscorer of all-time.
‘Take the F*****g money! He don’t want to be there! We’re Arsenal so some pride.’
After starting the summer in promising fashion, signing Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer and paying a club-record £52million for Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal failed to make any further additions to a squad which failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in Wenger’s 20-year reign.
Following the sales of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Wojciech Szczesny and Gabriel Paulista, Arsenal ultimately ended the transfer window in profit and Wright summed up the feelings of many Gooners by tweeting a picture of the club’s mascot inserting a cannon into its mouth.
MORE : Thomas Lemar breaks silence after rejecting Arsenal’s £92m transfer
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