In what is not good news for Arsenal fans, Alexis Sanchez says his future in North London is in the hands of his agent as he prepares to play in this month’s Confederations Cup for Chile.
Arsenal have so far been unable to persuade last season’s top scorer Sanchez to sign an extension to his deal, which has one year to run and several newspapers on Friday suggested Bayern Munich, home to international teammate Arturo Vidal, have already agreed personal terms with Sanchez that will make him the highest paid player in the Bundesliga.
The stumbling block on any potential deal is the transfer fee as Arsenal are holding out for £50m for Sanchez, which would be a record fee for someone with one year left on their current deal.
“I’m looking at what my agent is doing. For now, I’m focused on the Confederations Cup in Russia and trying to do well.” said Sanchez.
“The truth is that my agent will see to it. He knows and he will sit down with the club to look for the best option for me.
“I’d like a lot of things but I’m only thinking about the national team.”
Arsene Wenger has consistently said the Chilean will not be sold this summer, although he qualified that position in an interview last week by adding:
“Unless you find a player of the same calibre and if they absolutely want to leave…”
Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are also approaching the final 12 months of their deals, while the Catalan press continues to link Barcelona with right-back Hector Bellerin.
But Arsenal are confident of keeping Bellerin, who signed a new deal last autumn and tweeted this week: “Don’t believe everything you read…”, and Wenger has already begun strengthening for next season with the signing of left-back Sead Kolasinac.
