Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says Alexis Sanchez snubbed a move to Liverpool in the summer for football reasons, rather than the suggestion the player’s wife wanted to relocate to London ahead of Merseyside.
Liverpool were keen to sign the Chilean international as a replacement for Luis Suarez in the summer, but it was Arsenal who won the race for the £35million man’s signature.
He has been a hit in England, scoring 18 goals in 32 appearances this season.
Wenger said: “Alexis had a few options and he chose us because he felt that’s where he wanted to go. Sometimes a player moves somewhere and it’s not the choice that he deeply wanted. In his case, I think he really wanted to join us.
“On the pitch, the player has his needs. I felt that he came into a team that plays in an [attacking] way, where he can express his talent with freedom. It works out well for him. That helps.
“After, another step is that a team welcomes you with the values that you rate, and that in some parts of the team, you can feel at home when you need it sometimes.
“That means there are people inside the squad with a similar culture. For example we have plenty of Spanish-speaking people and I believe that helps to integrate people well.”
What a load of rubbish. You wouldn’t find a more attacking side than Liverpool and BR would embrace any player who wanted to “express himself”. He gives full rain to any creativity a player. Sanchez would have been a “shoe in” for replacing Suarez, and would have been welcomed and embraced by the Liverpool supporters who were very disappointed when he chose Arsenal. As for language, there are plenty of Spanish speaking players in Liverpool and Brendan Rogers is fluent in Spanish. This is just a smoke screen by Wenger. Sanchez chose Arsenal because he and his wife wanted to live in London, just ast Suarez and his wife wanted to live in Spain.