Arsène Wenger has given special dispensation to Alexis Sánchez to stay in Chile as he recovers from an ill-timed bout of flu. The Arsenal forward, who was originally due to return to England to rejoin the squad this weekend, has an extension until Tuesday. Sánchez’s instagram selfie – wrapped in a scarf with his bottom lip out as if he felt very sorry for himself while cuddling his dog for comfort – did not look like the most convincing sickie ever but Wenger had a message for the doubters: “Your job is to be suspicious. Your job is built on mistrust and my job is built on trust. That’s why I prefer my side,” he quipped.
Manager and player have exchanged messages in the past couple of days. “I had him on text yesterday, he will come back as soon as possible,” Wenger added. “We were in touch with him and his doctor. There is no basic problem.
“He comes back on Tuesday. I cannot reveal what he says to me. I cannot reveal a secret conversation. He is flying back as soon as he is in position to fly back. He has flu, that is normally four to five days.”
The situation regarding Sánchez’s contract and possible suitors remains unchanged from Wenger’s perspective: “There is no development, always the same, he is staying of course.”
With the club’s top scorer from last season in his South American sickbed, Arsenal beat Benfica 5-2 on the opening day of the Emirates Cup.
One of the standout performances came from Sead Kolasinac, the free transfer who looked powerful on the flank and used the ball shrewdly in the attacking positions he relishes. The Bosnian was involved in the creation of three goals and looks more than ready to make an impact in the Premier League.
“He has gone in pre-season from strength to strength,” Wenger said. “He started a bit nervous, every single week he moved his level up. Today he was influential, the first two goals came from him. He looks powerful and the timing of his availability going forward is very good.” On the other flank the talented and enterprising Reiss Nelson caught the eye and has had a good enough pre-season to work his way into the first-team plans – for the Europa League and League Cup at the very least.
In the current formation Wenger favours, he can take some encouragement from the idea of Kolasinac marauding on one side with Héctor Bellerín or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other.
It was a pre-season encounter with abundant chances (which said as much for the defensive sluggishness on show as the attacking finesse – three of the goals took deflections).
Strikes from a sharp Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud suggested that both are rising to the challenge posed by the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette, who made a cameo appearance and is expected to play a longer part in Sunday’s match against Sevilla.
Wenger was pleased with a solid run-out and also noted that he is open to further strengthening of his squad if he can. Monaco’s Thomas Lemar is still on his radar even if no major inroads have been made. “We don’t speak about how negotiations go,” said Wenger. “We come out once the deal is done or not done. At the moment nothing special to say on this case. We are active on the market in general.”
There was a minor flurry in the first half when a pitch invader headed in Wenger’s direction but the Arsenal manager was unfazed by it all. “I saw the stewards caught him in a strong way and I just said ‘calm down’. He looked like he wanted to talk to me. I tried to know what he wanted to tell me.”
Presumably he was not inquiring about Sánchez’s health, although the ongoing questions about Arsenal’s livewire attacker will be fully put to bed only once he is long out of his and the transfer window finally closes.