Alexis Sanchez will miss the start of the Premier League season with an abdominal injury.
Having reported for pre-season late because his exertions in the Confederations Cup, the Chilean had an outside chance of making the bench for the league opener against Leicester on Friday.
But Arsene Wenger has revealed his star forward is out through injury.
‘He has a little abdominal strain that he caught on Sunday morning in training, before he came to Wembley.
‘He had a scan two days ago and he’s out for a while – I don’t know; two weeks or one more week? But he will not be available.
‘I think he will not play at Stoke. For us Alexis Sanchez is a loss, of course.
‘But I don’t think I would have included him on Friday night. I don’t think I would have started him. He is focused. Of course when you have treatment on a medical bench, it’s not easy.’
Asked if Sanchez, who has less than a year left on his contract, could yet put pen to paper on a new deal, Wenger said:
‘Always possible. When a player is in the final year (of their contract) we will always try to extend.
‘There is no reason not to do it. We are not there yet.’
Pushed on whether the club had received any offers for Sanchez, specifically from Paris Saint-Germain, Wenger said:
‘No, I didn’t speak to Nasser (Al-Khelaifi, PSG chairman).
‘He was busy completing the transfer of Neymar. They are on (Kylian) Mbappe’s case, that’s what I read in the papers. I have had no contact at all with PSG.
‘I can’t tell you that (if there have been offers). We are not open to any offers anyway.’
Sanchez isn’t the only injury worry for Wenger going into the season-opener against the Foxes with Mesut Ozil (ankle), Aaron Ramsey (calf) and Shkodran Mustafi (fitness) all doubts.
‘I have plenty of uncertainties about the players who didn’t play against Chelsea (in the Community Shield),’ said Wenger.
‘Will they be available or not? For example Ramsey, Ozil, (Per) Mertesacker, of course (Laurent) Koscielny is suspended.
‘I have players coming back who have not played, like Mustafi.
‘I can take a gamble on one, maybe maximum two, but I focus more on the players who had the right number of competitive minutes in recent weeks.’
