Arsene Wenger is growing ever more frustrated with the “unbelievable” interrogation he feels he is receiving over Alexis Sanchez’s future at Arsenal.
Sanchez, along with team-mates Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil, is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs outside England from tomorrow, when his contract enters his last six months, though he is believed to prefer a reunion with his former boss Pep Guardiola at Manchester City next season.
The Chilean forward was in inspired form in Thursday’s 3-2 win at Crystal Palace, scoring twice, but in the aftermath of the victory focus was instead on Sanchez’s relationship with his Arsenal team-mates after what appeared to be divided celebrations for his goals.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry claimed the response was indicative of a divided dressing room whilst it has subsequently been reported that some players have lost patience with Sanchez, who was also involved in a high-profile bust-up with Laurent Koscielny in March.
Speaking after Thursday’s win a tense Wenger hit back at what he feels are unceasing questions over Sanchez before even being asked.
“When he plays well it’s a problem,” he said. “When is it not a problem? It’s unbelievable.
“You judge a player on whether he played well or not and you comment on it after that.
In Pictures | Crystal Palace vs Arsenal | 28/12/2017
“I am not a psychologist to know what is in his head, if he is short-term or long-term. You turn up to play football, that’s it. After that you judge, did he play well or not well.”
Questions about the future of Sanchez, Ozil and increasingly Wilshere have become a part of Wenger’s daily life, and it seems an increasingly onerous aspect at that.
As such he doubtless will not welcome the intervention of his next opponent, West Brom manager Alan Pardew, into the debate.
Pardew suggested that if Sanchez was proving to be a problem to manage Wenger should put the interests of the rest of the squad, perhaps by repeating his decision to bench the forward as he did after the Koscielny bust-up.
“There are situations where players force the hand of the group,” Pardew said.
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“Virgil Van Dijk has done that at Southampton. He wasn't playing, not picked every week – a great player like him. You have to question the attitude of him and look at all the other players.
“If we were a team in the room and we had one player doing that I would expect the group not to accept that. I would expect a manager to respond to the group.
“They either react to it in an understanding way, or they don't, and sometimes it gets a bit more volatile than that. Sometimes those moments are from a group rather than a manager themselves.”