At least Tottenham failed to win. Just 3 points in it now.

So our negotiation team have been to Dortmund and returned, with no definite news coming out from it so we are still left hanging. Surely were not going to loose him over a few million!
I think Giroud will be involved as well, may be in a separate deal, as he wants playing time.
Also some people are saying that Aubs car is there, that's strange as earlier reports say his car is at the airport.

#MUFC #AFC confirmation of Sanchez/Mkhitaryan swap Mon/Tue as work permits need updating. Arsenal stepping up Aubameyang pursuit - confident but will drag as must agree fee & possibility of player going other way to #BVB If done no significant funds available for further signings


Ornstein

I have some sympathy for the club when it comes to Sanchez. It was clearly all about money for him. Let's not forget that he wouldn't go to Bayern. I think there is an element of Sanchez being a bigger name in England than he is in Europe and he certainly took advantage of that. He has never signed a second contract with a club and Arsenal seemed to put too much faith in their ability to convince h to stay. In hindsight, we should have approached City at the beginning of the summer to get a deal done.

Whatever you claim, I don't think extending Wenger's contract pleased many supporters. So I'm not sure how important pleasing supporters is to the Arsenal hierarchy. Hence I have some doubts regarding how much that influenced the decision to not sell Sanchez last summer.

I think both players have a genuine closeness to the manager, and the young group spurs have built seem like they want to win something together. Plus they have the new stadium and the players will feel like the team is improving each year.
Spurs have continually given all these players regular new contracts with small wage increases.
Having said that the wages are miles below what the top teams play and there is a chink in the group with Walker having gone to city and extremely likely to win the league and more this season.
I think alderweireld and rose could be the next to go.

If they don’t win anything this year (and it’s probably only the fa Cup as a realistic shot) I think you’ll see more clubs come in for these players. I’m surprised Eriksen hasn’t had more interest from the Spanish teams - particularly with his performances on the international stage.

Kane is one of the best strikers in Europe. There's no way he is staying there.

Some confusion where the now published photos were taken of his car seems that it was at the airport.
Also one report saying they are still in Dortmund for more talks tomorrow, hope that's correct.

Well this is a nice little tempting morsel guaranteed to drag all those rabid anti Wengerites out of the woodwork .

I'd think most of our protracted transfer dealings stem from Arsene's arse backwards language ; at times he seems like he is speaking in tongues .

Being the plain no nonsense doodle I am I wouldn't have worried about this strengthening rivals routine .... as soon as Sanchez wouldn't sign an extension ; Okay where do you want to go ? ..... start the negotiations .

We painted ourselves into a corner and were faced with losing him for nothing in a couple of months

Why hang on to a player who is disillusioned at the club , makes no sense at all to me so I think the club / Wenger have made a complete pigs ear of proceedings .

We could have collected 60 million and bought Mkhitaryan for 25 .

Yes In 6th place most likely. Alexis not cup tied for CL at MU either.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... -1.3363343

An optimistic note for a Monday morning.

Normally you'd be quite excited about the prospect of us signing Mickey and Aubameyang however you then remember Wenger is still our manager and regardless we will always let a shedload of goals in.

The arrival of those 2 new players and Ancellotti in the summer would recaptivate our fanbase and have them running back to the Emirates to witness the birth of a new era of Arsenal. It would genuinely motivate people to come clawing back. Do I expect it to happen this summer ? Not a chance

What will you not miss about Sanchez?

I will not miss how he sometimes killed the momentum of our attacks by dribbling one time too many in the wrong direction.

I will not miss him losing possession by sloppily dribbling in his own half, leading to scoring chances against us.

To be honest, I will not miss his face. He has a stupid face.

Thanks. Suppose either they've changed the rules or I got the rules wrong (the latter is perhaps more likely). Because Sanchez has definitely played in the group stage of the Europa League for Arsenal this season, which I thought prohibited him from playing for anyone else in the Champions League unless he'd just played in a qualifying round.

I think the rules are that you can play in another European tournament than the one you’ve previously played in, as long as the team you’re moving from is not in the same tournament as the team you’re moving too.

This means that Mkhitaryan can play in the Europa League for us, as he’s only played in the Champions League this season, and Sanchez can play in the Champions League because he’s only played in the Europa League. However, Aubameyang cannot play in the Europa League for Arsenal, as Dortmund has now dropped down into the tournament (even though he hasn’t played in the Europa League for Dortmund this season).

I'm not buying into the Sanchez hate. He was a our best player since the invincibles, scored loads of goals for us and was our catalyst for the last 3 seasons. Anyway who disagrees clearly hasn't been watching Arsenal enough.

I'm glad he's finally gone but there's no point re writing history. What I would say is I think he's a player that will probably decline very quickly as he ages as his game is based around speed, super quick reactions and mobility. I can see a short van Persie like stay at united beckoning.

Anyway on to the new era and welcome the new signings of Mickey and Aubameyang. Who will have a good season then realise Wenger is a shoddy manager, their form will drop as their hope does before they leave only after a shedload of revisionist abuse from their own fans.

I think on the whole I won't miss him. Great player, but same reasons as you and also struck me as too selfish a player. Not someone I warmed to, and certainly not someone I recognise as 'Arsenal'.

This is a fair description. His quality as a player is certainly undeniable - best player in the league when in form - but didn't warm to him the same way I did to Henry, Pires, van Persie or even Özil.

Also how the entire football world bought into the narrative that Sanchez is 'good defensively' or 'puts in a shift' because he once or twice per game hustled to win back possession. He's just as shite defensively as all players with his offensive ability. That's ok because it's not his job to defend, it's his job to win games, but the notion that he was in any way the complete package is ridiculous.

Well what I will miss is:
Premier League Record

Appearances 122
Goals 60
Assists 25
Intercepts 95
Offsides 64
15 yellows and 0 reds

Unless his replacement matches these figures they will be an absolute failure because the rest of them won't do the hard yards. That is .49 goals per match.

Why will you miss his 64 offsides?

Because he is not a habitual offsider. one every two games is okay. I can live with those figures.

El Nenny and Xhaka never get caught offside. Perfect footballers

Yeah, those numbers are not bad at all. I just don't remember ever thinking "That's a good offside, I'll miss that when he's gone".

Like I said never get caught offside. 2 amazing footballers

Wouldn't mind seeing us replace Sanchez internally with one of them.

Agree with this assessment. He is a tremendous footballer who made things happen. He is worth several dozen Elneny's etc. I am sorry to see him go.

Well no *%^@, everyone agrees he's a top class player (except maybe for bubblechris). That's why it's important to focus on not having to see his rather stupid face, or his kamikaze dribbles outside his own penalty area.

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed Hazuki?

Not at all, just think it's healthier to focus on his face or terribly dull IG account rather than how good a footballer he is now that he's gone.

let's hope Mik, Aubameyang or whoever can replace his game-winning qualities.

RIP Jimmy Armfield.
A true gent, who's informative insights as a co-commentator will be sadly missed.

Haz you are wrong and making untrue statements because you are shortsighted.

Until the beginning of the year I thought he was a great player and to the last game appreciated what he did for the club when he played and put in 100%.

Imo I believe it was around the beginning of the year when I started questioning his contribution to the team and the club. I believe I showed stats that proved he was no longer as efficient as he could have been and was calling for him to be played up front where I believe he scored more goals.

Right or wrong I believe I am a better reader of the player's game than you are. He was a busted flush many many months back and caused many problems to the team. If you can't see that then more fool you ad the others that criticised my concerns.

I know I have been proved right..............

So Sanchez is a busted flush this season yet Welbeck who falls over his feet 90% of the time in the penalty area is a great “multi functional footballer”

I’ve never read such bollocks, even Sanchez at his very worst this season (when he knew he was leaving and was just auditioning for his next contract) was better than any of our other attacking players with maybe the exception of Özil.

At one point I'm pretty sure you said he was 'currently average' or something to that effect, that's what I was getting at. I also remember you asking what he'd done after christmas (answer being 12 goals in 21 games in the league in the 2017 part of the 16/17 season, and probably a decent number of assists as well).

Don't think it's unfair to say that you rated him lower than most Arsenal fans, or that you didn't always consider him top class.

Errrr did I not say that Welbeck imo was no longer of value to us? Again I'm not saying he's crap but there are better players out there doing the business where Welbeck has been falling flat on his face recently so maybe a loan spell might help him or a move away as a last resort.

I don't know why you have to keep having a go at Welbeck. When on form, he's a bloody good player and is the least of our problems. Sanchez doesn't want to play for Arsenal and at 29, as somebody said (it might even have been you) will probably turn out to be another short-term signing for Manchester United. Mind you, whether he'll be as successful there as van Persie is doubtful, as van Persie did win the league there and it remains to be seen if Sanchez does.

It's time to move on from Sanchez. An outstanding player but not one who was good enough to transform Arsenal from the Wengerised underachievers we've become under Arsene to title challengers. Mind you, that point applies to every other player we've signed over the last decade or so. Hence I'm not saying that's a reflection on him, or any other the others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42777794

If this happened it would be a deal worth trying for in the summer.

Dunno. Ask Berbatov, Van der Vaart, Modric, Bale and Walker!