Why Arsenal's show of strength over Alexis Sanchez leaves them looking weak

It was a scenario mirrored at other clubs and with other big name players. It has been, to an extent, the summer of club rather than player power; a summer in which clubs have steadfastly refused to sell because they do not need the money and, as they have pointed out, they cannot find the replacements. The broadcast revenues are now so great that they do not have to consider it reckless not to cash-in on players whose contracts are running down as has been the conventional wisdom up until recently. Sanchez  now has just nine months left on his deal at Arsenal and will walk away for free on July 1 2018, although on Friday Wenger suggested he had not given up all hope of convincing the Chilean to sign a new deal despite admitting to making “a financial sacrifice” in keeping him rather than taking the money without a replacement.

“When you decide to let a player of that calibre go you need to replace him, because nobody would understand why you let the player go,” Wenger told beIN Sports. “When you cannot do it you keep the player and you make a financial sacrifice because at the end of the day you want is to have a team that has a good potential and top quality.

“That means two things - Alexis Sanchez will go on like Mesut Ozil, it is similar, in the final year of his contract or you think that during the season you find a way to extend the contract. Or, at the end of the season, the players go for free.”

Wenger also confirmed Lemar had elected to stay at Monaco and was adamant Sanchez would remain “100 per cent” committed to Arsenal, but he would have been well aware hyper-inflation in the transfer market meant the scale of the feet received for the forward would have become almost became immaterial because it has to be fully re-invested – and then some – to find a replacement. So Arsenal would have got £60million for Sanchez? They would then spend £92million on Lemar.

It also means that for the final months of his contract Sanchez will stay on the same salary – he is believed to be on £140,000-a-week – rather than the near £300,000-a-week Arsenal want to pay him for his new deal and certainly not the £400,000-a-week he was demanding.

The problem for Arsenal is what has happened does not look like strength. They are left with a disgruntled, unhappy player and one who has – frankly – irritated some of his team-mates to such an extent that they just wanted him gone and the club to move on.

It has been evident in his performance at Liverpool on Sunday, the way he has trained and his attitude at the training ground and there is little faith in Arsene Wenger’s ability to turn that around. The most damning indictment of the manager, right now, is that players do not necessarily want to leave the club but they do want to leave Wenger. Similarly players still quite like the idea of joining Arsenal – but not of playing under their manager who has just been awarded a new two-year contract.

The other problem for Arsenal is that “catalyst for change” comment made by chief executive Ivan Gazidis to a supporters group last spring when the team was struggling and Wenger was on the rocks. That was followed by suggestions that Arsenal would be investing heavily this summer with funds of £150million available.

By this week the noises were that Arsenal had to sell before they could buy – despite a window in which they ended up making a profit having transferred Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczesny, Gabriel and Kieran Gibbs. The only signings were Alexandre Lacazette, albeit for a club record fee, and Sead Kolasinac on a free.

Arsenal went into the last week of the window with an unwieldy squad and are left with more unhappy players – such as Shkodran Mustafi who wanted out only for Inter Milan to be unable to match his wages,  forgotten man Mathieu Debuchy, and Calum Chambers who was told he could go only for Wenger to change his mind and keep him. Arsenal had no top-flight offers for Jack Wilshere, either.

But the biggest problem remains Sanchez. There have been other players who wanted to go in the past who were denied – or delayed – in their moves. Not least Luis Suarez who Liverpool would not sell to Arsenal after their infamous £40million and a pound bid but who stayed one more season, was player of the year, and got his move to Barcelona.

The problem is Sanchez’s, and Arsenal’s, unhappiness is more ingrained. It runs deeper. This has gone on far too long. It can be spun either way. Yes, Arsenal did not sell him and are prepared to lose £60million gambling on having a successful season. But Arsenal look weaker, not stronger, than last season.

All the signs are that they needed that catalyst for change. But they also needed to act more decisively in the transfer market themselves, buying before selling, and not vice-versa. That is what the big clubs try to do.