Alexis Sanchez hinted of returning to old best after scoring a brilliant hat-trick in Arsenal’s last league match against Leicester City.
In his first season for the Gunners, after joining from Barcelona a reported fee of £29.75m, he impressed everyone with his performance and commitment.
A world class forward in his own right, Sanchez scored 25 goals for the Gunners in all competitions last season and helped his club win the FA Cup as well.
Furthermore, he scored the winner for his country in the summer’s Copa America Final. And now the club is ready to reward him with a lucrative contract within this year.
According to reports from The Mirror, talks are expected to start before Christmas on contract that will see the forward getting a pay-rise to £130,00o-per-week.
Sanchez was outstanding against Leicester last week and emerged with any credit from Arsenal’s shocking 3-2 defeat in the Champions League against Greek side Olympiakos last Tuesday at home.
Wenger now has the necessary finances to offer Alexis – whose current agreement runs out in 2018 — a tempting pay-rise in a bid to ensure he stays long-term at Arsenal, with contract talks likely to start this side of Christmas.
Before Sunday’s massive home match against Manchester United, a senior Arsenal source said: “It would be no surprise if there was a new contract offer.”
Another reason why Sanchez is such an important player to this Arsenal side is due to his versatility. Arsenal have an avalanche of attacking midfielders in their ranks – Ozil, Ramsey, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain – but very few of them are versatile enough to play in all the three positions upfront.
Ahead of Arsenal’s titanic clash with Manchester United, Arsene Wenger will be hoping for a something-special-performance from the Chilean. The Gunners can level points with United should they win at the Emirates on Sunday, whereas another defeat would see them losing an early grip in the title race.
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