Sanchez to miss start of season
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ALEXIS Sanchez will miss at least the first two games of the English Premier League season for Arsenal, with coach Arsene Wenger saying the absence is due to injury rather than doubts surrounding the forward’s club future.
Wenger said yesterday that Sanchez sustained an abdominal strain on Sunday — hours before Arsenal’s win over Chelsea in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium — and will be out for “two weeks or one more week”.
Arsenal plays Leicester City at home tomorrow in the league’s season-opener.
With Arsenal failing to qualify for this season’s UEFA Champions League, Sanchez, who was Arsenal’s top scorer in the league with 24 goals last season, has been heavily linked with a move away from The Emirates although Wenger has repeatedly said this offseason that the Chile international is not for sale. Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly interested in the player, who has just one year left on his contract at Arsenal.
Wenger wouldn’t say if any bids had come in for Sanchez.
“I can’t tell you that at the moment,” he said. “I just think we are not open — what I said to you many times — to any offers, anyway.
“(PSG) are looking for (Kylian) Mbappe, that’s what I read in the papers. I have had no contact with PSG.”
Sanchez’s last game was the Confederations Cup final for Chile on July 2 and he was given an extended summer break. His initial return to training was delayed by three days, with Arsenal citing an illness, and now he is injured.
Wenger said Sanchez would not have started against Leicester even if he wasn’t injured. “We have all the other players prepared in preseason and they are all ready.”
The Frenchman also dismissed media reports linking Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with rival Chelsea.
The 23-year-old England international has struggled to secure a regular place since arriving at Arsenal six years ago, but Wenger believes the winger has the potential to become a great player.
“I think he had in his career some bad moments because he had some small injuries,” the manager added. “He’s very conscious of his qualities, he was not always. I believe he will be a very great player.”
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