Alexis Sanchez’s contract is set to expire in June 2018 and Arsenal may need to speed up the financial negotiations if they want to keep him around. Surely, the club prepared for such a situation as with star-quality players come higher wage demands. While the Chilean already has one of the biggest salaries in the Arsenal squad, a contract extension automatically implies a raise especially considering the massive impact he has on the team and its results. He should be considered indispensable for Arsenal and Wenger should do everything in his power to keep him around.

For many, Sanchez is in the top 10 players in the world and he should get the money he wants not because he needs it but because for him a raise would show the appreciation of the club and give him the recognition he deserves. He even mentioned this in recent comments made ahead of the match vs Man City as reported by Sky Sports:

“I’ve told my agent I don’t want to speak about this (contract extension) too much when all the rumors are going around – it can distract a player from their main focus of concentration.”

“I’m playing well and scoring goals. I’m achieving my objectives.”

“I’m just focused on playing football, Sunday is a very important match. I’ve got an agent who deals with all of this, so I just want to focus on making the fans happy.”

“I’m very relaxed. I’m trying not to let it bother me – that’s not what I want. We’ll see when it’s all resolved – I’m very calm. I’ve told my agent I don’t want to speak about this sort of thing.”

“It really doesn’t depend on me – if they want to show confidence in me. I’m very happy at the club. I love all the staff. I’m very grateful for everybody here.”

“It depends on Arsenal. I enjoy the relationship with the fans. I want to achieve more for them. I want to win the Premier League and the Champions League.”

So it seems that Sanchez is happy playing for Arsenal and as long as he receives a fair market value contract then the Chilean would be content to stay in North London as he feels like he can achieve his career goals and prefers to focus on football now and deal with the business side of things in the off-season. Arsenal may need to break their wage structure to secure the striker but surely he has shown he is well worth it.