During today’s press conference, Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, confirmed how he managed to lure Alexis Sanchez from FC Barcelona over the Summer.
The Chilean international, who was superb during the World Cup in Brazil, completed his move from the Catalan club just after his nation were eliminated from the competition, and today, Wenger has revealed how he managed to secure the deal.
Alexis, who turned 26 today, has already netted 14 times for his new club, making the £32million price-tag look great value for money, and ahead of the club’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday, Wenger revealed the process of signing the forward.
“I met his agent in Brazil a few times,” the manager explained. “We could talk about the transfer and in Europe we talked with Barcelona once we got his decision that he wanted to join us, and it happened.
“He came out from a period where he maybe didn’t have the number of games he wanted at Barcelona. I just tried, like every manager, to convince the player that you can help him to develop the quality of his game, that the way we play football would suit him and that’s why I think he has chosen us in the end.
“As well, we have continuity. All the player wants to do is play in the Champions League – it is quite simple. We have quite a good continuity on that front.
“We were interested in Suarez last year. He scored 40 goals for Liverpool and that’s part of the competition. At the end of the day, every great player has a choice to go where he wants today.
“Alexis has chosen us – we are very happy for that and I’m not sure that Liverpool was in. I don’t know why he has chosen us and not anybody else, but we are very happy that he has done that.”
Liverpool were reportedly keen on signing Alexis, but the Chile international eventually chose to join Arsenal instead.
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
