Alexis Sanchez has already had to deal with one big recent disappointment after his proposed £60m move from Arsenal to Manchester City proved unsuccessful on deadline day. Now he has to cope with another, after Chile failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, what would have been his last World Cup at his very best.
Wenger has had one or two things to say about that.
“You have always to set targets when you’re a football player,” Wenger said. “When one is gone, you focus on something else.”
“I watched the game,” said Wenger with a pronounced sigh. “What a physical game it was, with that number of fouls.
Sanchez played against Dani Alves, that was a real battle, believe me. It’s worse to watch. He got some special treatment. It was a very physical game and mentally I will have to assess the situation when he comes back.”
“Alexis is as well in a very difficult mind,” Wenger said. The 2022 Qatar World Cup will likely be a bridge too far for a player who is so much about physical intensity and speed. “Chile just won the Copa America twice, and now they don’t even go to the World Cup. Sanchez is 29 at the end of this year, so the next one he will be 33. He expected to go. Certainly a big disappointment for him.”
There was even a sense of pity in Wenger’s voice about the sadness Sanchez must be feeling. “You want your players to be in a positive mind, and to have to positive experiences,” he said. “To go to the World Cup is the target of every single player who plays football.”
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