Arsenal will be without their star forward Alexis Sanchez for very likely the first two Premier League fixtures, manager Arsene Wenger revealed today. Sanchez joined the team late this summer, following an extended tour of duty with Chile in the Confederations Cup. Sanchez has an abdominal injury that will keep him out of Friday night’s opener against Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium.
The forward is also very likely to miss the Gunners’ second fixture, at Stoke City, eight days later.
“He has a little abdominal strain that he caught on Sunday morning in training, before he came to Wembley,” Wenger told his weekly news conference.
“He had a scan two days ago and he’s out for a while – I don’t know; two weeks or one more week? But he will not be available. I think he will not play at Stoke. For us Alexis Sanchez is a loss, of course.”
Indeed he truly is a significant loss, and right now the Gunners cannot afford too many more of those. Mesut Ozil {ankle}, Aaron Ramsey {calf} and Shkodran Mustafi {fitness} are all doubts for the league curtain raiser as well.
As you might have heard, maybe once or twice, Alexis Sanchez has less than a year left on his current contract, so of course the topic came up once again. Asked if Sanchez could sign a new contract extension, Wenger replied:
“Always possible. When a player is in the final year (of their contract) we will always try to extend. There is no reason not to do it. We are not there yet.”
Asked about any Sanchez offers in the transfer market, specifically from Paris Saint-Germain, Wenger responded: “No, I didn’t speak to Nasser (PSG’s Chairman). He was busy completing the transfer of Neymar.
“They are on (Kylian) Mbappe’s case, that’s what I read in the papers. I have had no contact at all with PSG.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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