Arsenal stars are sick of Alexis Sanchez’s toxic attitude and want Man City target out
Wantaway frontman is trying to force move to Etihad and Gunners team-mates would be happy to drive him there
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THE dressing room has spoken.
Arsenal’s players are sick to the back teeth of Alexis Sanchez and his stinking attitude around the place.
Sanchez, once the darling of the Arsenal crowd, is fast losing friends at the Emirates.
There is no way back for him, no matter how many goals he scores or makes before he finally gets his wish to sign for Manchester City.
The damage has been done.
Only four of his team-mates — Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Shkodran Mustafi — celebrated with him when he scored Arsenal’s second at Selhurst Park on Thursday evening.
The rest, the boys who recognise his talent but resent his attitude, have grown tired of his antics.
Even Arsenal’s travelling fans are showing their colours, chanting for Jack Wilshere instead of Sanchez when he scored the third on 66 minutes.
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Sanchez, 29, is running short on sympathy.
He wants away, still smarting with Arsenal after they denied him a deadline-day move to the Etihad last September.
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The frustrations — with Arsenal a staggering 21 POINTS behind the club he believes he should be playing for — are obvious.
He is a lone wolf around the training ground, doing his own thing and fulfilling his contractual obligations (just) in advance of his move away.
There have been times when he has been late to the training ground because he has been walking his beloved dogs, Atom and Humber, first thing in the morning.
Frenchman Arsene Wenger has never quite managed to bring him to heel.
At 67, Arsenal’s manager is old enough to be these players’ grandfather, letting them get away with murder around the place because he believes they will deliver on the pitch.
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Sanchez, to be fair, has always kept his side of the bargain.
The rest of this average squad of players have not.
Arsenal have failed to make a title challenge at any point since Sanchez arrived from Barcelona in 2014.
Sanchez, obsessed with winning trophies, prioritised the Premier League over any dressing room kinship with Arsenal’s players.
That is his call, but it has come at a price as he winds down the final months of his lucrative contract in North London.
The Chile forward has never been a great one for socialising, certainly with players he regards at Arsenal as sub-standard.
He was promised the world when he left Barcelona, with Wenger convincing Sanchez that they were building a bright new team to challenge for the title.
The silly boy should have asked around.
Nobody in their right mind would sign for Arsenal if their naked ambition is to win the Premier League title.
Sanchez won six trophies at Barca, including La Liga in 2013, before he was forced out of the Nou Camp in 2014.
He was tolerated in the first season or so, with his work ethic, along with his goals, drawing attention to his performances.
Sanchez did a very good job of making it look to Arsenal’s temperamental supporters that he cared more than the rest of his team-mates.
Those flailing arms, ripping off his gloves in frustration, as he did at Bournemouth when Olivier Giroud was skipping around the Vitality after scoring in the 3-3 draw last term, seemed to prove he wanted it more.
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Instead he has been left isolated, disenchanted at Arsenal after falling so far behind City.
His mind is made up, with the decision to leave at the end of the season to the pacesetters City all done and dusted.
It is there that he will be reunited with Pep Guardiola, the coach who worked with him when Sanchez left Italian club Udinese to join Barcelona.
Sanchez sees the bigger picture, the chance to win the Premier League and maybe the Champions League with City.
It is a well-trodden path, with Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Bacary Sagna among the stars who forced their way out of the Emirates to move to the blue half of Manchester.
Judging by the Arsenal players’ mood, they will be happy to drive Sanchez there.