Arsene Wenger has admitted that if things had worked out differently last summer then Alexis Sanchez would have been lining up for Liverpool against Arsenal at Anfield tomorrow.
The Arsenal manager moved decisively while he was in Brazil working as a World Cup TV pundit to close a £30 million (€38 million) deal for Sanchez from Barcelona. The Chile forward has been Arsenal’s player of the season so far, scoring 14 goals in all competitions and making light of any settling-in difficulties.
However, Wenger said that Liverpool had also been on the case, as they prepared for life after the Barcelona-bound Luis Suarez who, coincidentally, had been an Arsenal target the previous summer.
Bargaining power
Wenger was worried that the Merseyside club might have had the bargaining power. “I thought Liverpool was a serious candidate [for Sanchez] because they had Suarez going there [to Barcelona] so you think that’s an easy way to do the deal,” Wenger said. “But at the end of the day, the player always has the decision.
“Was I worried that Liverpool might get Sanchez? Yes. It could happen. There were some other clubs that were in for him as well. The fact is the transfers at that level today always take time to get every detail right so, because it takes time, you think always that somebody else can come in – [like] Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern [Munich] – to do the deal.”
If things had worked out differently in the summer of last year, Suarez might have been lining up for Arsenal against Liverpool and who knows where Sanchez would have been. Liverpool, though, refused to budge in the face of Arsenal’s infamous £40,000,001 offer. Wenger said that he was happy with how things had worked out in the end, although it would have been a surprise if he had said anything else.
“The history of every big club is made up of many big players that you missed,” Wenger added. “It goes on and sometimes you get another one. I wanted to play Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka together. Maybe, if Anelka had stayed [in 1999], Henry would not have become the player he became. Sometimes, it’s coincidence that decides your destiny.”
Sometimes, it is sheer hard work. Wenger made headlines around the world last summer when he was pictured throwing himself into diving headers on Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro but it was not all fun and games for him at the World Cup. He was networking behind the scenes and he said that he had met with Sanchez’s agent a “few times”.
Wenger had followed Sanchez since the player’s days at Udinese and his sales pitch took in how he would fit easily into Arsenal’s style, develop at the club and play regularly, which – to great frustration – had not been the case at Barcelona.
Living in London
Sanchez, meanwhile, liked the idea of working with Wenger, of playing with Mesut Ozil and of living in London. The transfer was concluded relatively quickly after Chile’s last-16 World Cup exit against Brazil on 28 June.
“Sanchez came out from a period where he maybe didn’t have the number of games that he wanted at Barcelona,” Wenger said. “I just tried, like every manager, to convince the player that you can help him to develop the quality of his game and that the way we play football would suit him.
“As well, we have continuity. All the players want to play in the Champions League – it is quite simple. And we have quite a good continuity on that front. At the end of the day, every great player has a choice to go where he wants. He has chosen us and we are very happy.”
Wenger described Sanchez as being “made for the English game” because of his “instinctive and tough” style and he said that he could see the similarities with Suarez. “They are South Americans, they are provoking players, they go with the ball,” Wenger said. “They are very determined as well. They have plenty of similar attitudes.” Guardian service
