It has been reported that Alexis Sanchez has been made aware of interest in China for his services and he could earn around £400k a week if he decided to up sticks and move to the Far East.

I doubt the prospect of playing in the Chinese Super League would be a tempting one for the Chilean dynamo but the lucrative offer could make for a useful bargaining tool when negotiating a new deal with Arsenal.

Speculation suggests that Sanchez and his advisors want the Gunners to match Paul Pogba’s £290k a week deal (At Man Utd) but the London club don’t want to go beyond a weekly £200k salary. All the numbers are eye-watering.

I’d urge caution to the Chilean forward if he wants to stand his ground and demand the £290k offer.

Arsenal simply won’t offer it. Manchester United can afford that kind of deal, hence why they pay it into Pogba’s bank account each and every week. Arsenal are more stringent with their purse strings.

I think there could be a compromise that could tempt both sides.

Sanchez is currently the Premier League’s 15th highest earning star and to be fair he deserves to be higher than the likes of Juan Mata, Cesc Fabregas and Raheem Sterling.

I think an offer between £22ok – £230k would suffice. That will see the hitman become the fifth highest earner and get around a £100k a week increase to his current wage package. The Arsenal board could also offer big winning bonuses if he can secure them the league title or the Champions League trophy during his Emirates stay.

While Sanchez has been in fine form this season and enjoyed a strong debut campaign, his year last term wasn’t good enough. Had he been in as prolific form last year as he was in his other two seasons in an Arsenal jersey then I’d imagine the Gunners would have won the Premier League not Leicester City. It obviously helps that he’s performing in the middle this season.

It’s slightly damning that he’s only managed to win the FA Cup since his arrival in England.

He currently looks happy and is almost unplayable. At Arsenal he’s the top star and that status usually gets the best out of Alexis, it was the same for him at Udinese.

At Barcelona he saw firsthand just how brutal it can be at certain clubs when they decide you don’t offer them enough. He’s pretty safe with the Gunners and that will definitely be the case if he signs a new mega lucrative contract. If he can win them the league title that the fans crave then he’ll be seen as a club legend!

Now he may have offers closer to home, with Man City, Juventus and PSG reportedly interested in the twenty-eight year old forward.

At City he’d work under Pep Guardiola again, and that didn’t quite go to plan at Barca. I’m unsure Juve could actually match Arsenal’s offer. Would PSG offer the competitive edge? That would be up to Alexis.

Now why should Arsenal break the £200k a week wage barrier for the talented goalscorer?

Well let’s say he signs a three year extension that keeps him at the Emirates for the next five seasons.

A £230k deal would workout at around £11m a year. So five years at that rate gives you a grand total of £55.2m. You’d also have to factor in bonuses and the like.

That is obviously a huge sum but Arsenal tell us that they have hard cash in their bank-vaults. You then have to look at players that would be capable of instantly replacing Alexis Sanchez, how much would they cost? Quite possibly £55m if not more and that’s just the transfer fee, you would then need to workout wages, bonuses and a signing on fee. Plus after all that you’re not guaranteed instant success!

So really when you look at it from afar it’s a tough situation for Arsenal to be in. They can’t allow Sanchez and his agents to believe that they can hold the club to ransom but they also have to realise that they might need to break their current wage structure in order to keep their magician in north London.

Posted on December 8th, 2016 by scott
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