Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has accused Alexis Sanchez of being “the biggest mercenary in football” as the Chilean looks set to complete his move to Manchester United.
The 29-year-old has agreed terms on a deal worth an initial £350,000-a-week deal at Old Trafford that will be supplemented by bonuses and image rights, ranking him among the top earners in the Premier League.
Sanchez had seemed to be destined for Manchester City before United swooped in, matching Arsenal’s demands and putting together a package that Pep Guardiola’s league-leaders had deemed to be too expensive for a forward who is out of contract at the end of the season.
Arsenal had been prepared to pay Sanchez £300,000-a-week to stay at the Emirates but were unable to convince him to stay. Keown is convinced that the Chilean was swayed by finances.
“Sanchez has got to be the biggest mercenary in football,” Keown wrote in the Daily Mail.
“Manchester City have wanted to sign Sanchez since the summer and, if no deal is done in January, they will be waiting for him at the end of the season.
“City would be the natural place for Sanchez to go to develop his football. He has worked with Pep Guardiola before.
“But for Sanchez, this is clearly not about going to the best team, working with Guardiola and taking his game to another level.
“He has probably thought that he will not get a better offer if he waits until the summer, so he might as well take the best deal on offer now. It has been all about the money.”
Sanchez’s future has hardly been the only headache Wenger has faced in recent months, with Mesut Ozil also approaching the end of his contract.
The German playmaker is believed to still be mulling his future and Arsenal, struggling to stay in touch in the race for a top four spot, may not get a decision on whether he will sign a contract until his current terms expire.
“Ozil and Sanchez have held the club to ransom in so many ways — not just financially,” Keown added.
In Pictures | Bournemouth vs Arsenal | 14/01/2017
“It has affected the group. Their team-mates are thinking, ‘Why doesn’t anybody want to stay at Arsenal?’
“Last season, those two players were able to use the uncertainty surrounding Arsene Wenger’s future as an excuse. Yet since Wenger signed his two-year contract, Ozil and Sanchez have still not signed.
“When I was at the club, the likes of Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira were superstars but we were still made to feel special as well. There was never a feeling that they were more important than we were.”
