Good deal on Sanchez

tldr; Off all the possible outcomes of the Sanchez contract saga, selling him to PSG for £50m would be one of the best for Arsenal FC and while Alexis can't be replaced by a single player, he contributions can be absorbed by the rest of our first XI.


When we look at the Sanchez situation there were only five possible outcomes.

1) Sanchez signs a new contract worth c£300,000 pw

2) Sanchez refuses to sign a new contract this summer, plays for Arsenal and signs a new contract next summer worth c£300,000+ pw

3) Sanchez refuses to sign a new contract this summer, plays for Arsenal and leaves next summer for a transfer fee of £0.

4) Sanchez transfers this summer to a PL team (most likely Man City) for c.£60m and plays under Guardiola for the next 2-3 years

5) Sanchez transfers this summer to a non-PL team (most likely Bayern or PSG) for c.£40m.

Obviously option 1) is the preferable situation. Sanchez IS a world class player and produces around 40 goals a season (30 goals + 10 assists). He has already shown what he is capable of in the PL over the last 3 seasons and is a fan favourite. Unfortunately this was always an unlikely outcome because it is clear that Sanchez does not believe that Arsenal is the club that can give him what he wants most (league titles and European cups).

Option 2) is the least likely outcome simply because by running down him contract he could demand wages and a signing-on fee well in excess of whatever Arsenal could realistically offer him.

Option 3) would be a fantastic show of strength and resolve from both Wenger and the Arsenal board, finally asking a top player to see out the entirety of his contract, but would come at a massive loss financially and would essentially be a gamble that one more season of Sanchez is worth £50m.

Option 4) would be an admission of defeat and is clearly the worst option. Selling a world class player to a league rival is obviously devastating for morale amongst fans and would stir up memories of Nasri, Cesc and Van Persie (which is recent history relatively speaking). It would show that the club has not changed it's modus operandi and I for one and extremely happy that all of the talk coming out of Arsenal is that transferring our best player to another PL team is not something that they will be facilitating anymore (outside of a ridiculous world record fee of £100m+, in which case I wouldn't blame them if they took the money and ran).


If the rumours coming out in the last 24 hours are true, then it looks like option 5) is going to happen but for a slightly higher fee of c.£50m.
Firstly, this is higher than the £35m we paid for him back in the summer of 2014 and represents a good deal for a "want-away player" with only a year left on his contract.

Secondly, it would allow us to play a "purer" 3-5-2 formation with Giroud/Laca up top, Ozil/Xhaka/CM(Rambo?) in the centre and Sead/Ox(or Hector?) as wing backs. Most of the goals we will lose can be replaced by others in a more efficient system (+fewer turnovers of possession when attacking). There might even be a knock on effect on Mesut if/when he becomes the crown jewel in our team which spurs him to perform at his peak once more (after a down year last season).


I think that this would represent a good deal. It's not the best outcome but it is the second best in my opinion. And £50m can be immediately reinvested into the signing of Thomas Lemar from Monaco and maybe even the CM we still need (Rafinha perhaps?).


Have I missed any outcomes? Does anyone disagree with my thoughts? If we do get c£50m for Sanchez which players should we focus on bringing in?