Arsenal should listen to offers for Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil as they are ‘going to lose them anyway’, says Thierry Henry

Former Arsenal captain Thierry Henry admits that his former side should listen to offers for star players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in the January transfer window or face ‘double punishment’.

Both Ozil and Sanchez are free to sign pre-contract agreements with sides outside England from January 1, with their contracts due to expire in the summer.

Manager Arsene Wenger has so far refused to admit defeat in his attempts to keep the duo, and batted off questions regarding Sanchez in particular from the press following Thursday’s victory at Crystal Palace.

“Nobody knows really what will happen,” said Wenger. “It’s always difficult to speculate.”

But Henry, the club’s all-time record goalscorer, believes the club must entertain offers for the pair or risk losing them for nothing in the summer in a damning critique of how the club have handled the situation.

"We are talking about something they created themselves,” he told Sky Sports. “You are going to miss Alexis Sanchez if he leaves and you are going to miss Mesut Ozil, because they are quality players. Now, are you not going to get any money for them either?

"If something is coming now, you have to at least get some money, because you are going to lose them anyway at the end. They haven't signed new contracts yet, that is something we are sure about, so you are not going to get money for them if they leave at the end of the season. So it's a double punishment.

"It's astonishing to me. How? [Robin] van Persie went, I went. A lot of players went, but you got money for them. These guys might go on a free. So are you going to keep them and hope you can make them stay or are you going to sell them?"