Alexis Sanchez’s future was the main focus on transfer deadline day, and despite opting against signing a new contract, the attacking player stayed at the Emirates.
According to the Daily Mail, the 28-year-old was keen to join Manchester City in a last-minute deal potentially costing around £60m, but Arsenal’s failure to land Monaco’s Thomas Lemar had a knock-on effect.
With no replacement on the cards, the Gunners refused to sell Sanchez, who was thought to have been ready to get the deal done before playing for Chile in their World Cup qualifier against Paraguay.
The transfer never went ahead, and it seems that Sanchez has another problem, according to former Chile youth coach Sulantay.
The current manager of Chilean second-tier side Cobreloa has claimed that the Arsenal man has put on weight.
He told La Cuarta:
“I saw him gone, I saw him out of physical shape, totally. He’s fatter than normal. Without his spark, he never left that Paraguayan defence behind. He never made a diagonal run, it was something else. It was not Alexis. This can bring you problems later, the statements of wanting to leave. The teammates must have felt nothing for him.”
Sanchez missed the majority of Arsenal’s pre-season schedule due to injury and he only returned to action on August 27 in a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Liverpool.
With the Chilean now unable to secure a move away from Arsenal until January, the attacker will have to decide whether to get his head down or avoid game time.
Sanchez will come to the end of his contract next summer.
