KEY POINTS

  • Former Gunners captain Tony Adams says club should replace him with someone committed to the cause.
  • Manchester City have been linked with a £20m move for the Chile international in January.
  • Sanchez and Mesut Ozil out of contract in the summer and destined to leave for nothing.

Arsenal should sell contract rebel Alexis Sanchez and replace him with someone committed to the cause, according to former captain Tony Adams.

The Chile international is out of contract in the summer, and the Gunners are destined to lose him for free if they do not cash in on him in the January transfer window.

Sanchez has been re-integrated at Arsenal but has scored just two goals in 10 appearances in all competition and looks far from his best.

Manchester City continue to be linked with a move for the 28-year-old, with sources close to the club telling The Sun that Arsenal are demanding £30m for a move to be completed in January.

But Adams has demanded that Arsenal make a swift decision regarding the ex-Udinese forward and sign a play who is devoted to the club.

"We used to have a philosophy at Arsenal: if you don't want to be at the club then bye-bye, we shake your hand and get people that do, whatever money," he told Omnisport, according to Goal.com, following in the footsteps of former teammate Lee Dixon.

"I've always loved those principles, so if [Sanchez] doesn't want to be here then, absolutely, try and get the most you can for him and get him on and get someone that does want to play for the club."

Pep Guardiola is understood to see Sanchez as the player to ensure the club both capture the Premier League title – they lead closest rivals Manchester United by eight points after just 11 games – and stake a claim to win the Champions League.

But Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is ready to stand firm. Having pulled the plug on his exit on deadline day in the summer he hopes that Sanchez will remain for the duration of the season – even if his departure at the end of the season in inevitable.

"You say everybody thinks City will come in for Alexis [in January] – I am part of everybody and I don't think he will go," Wenger said last week, as quoted by The Guardian. "Do City need him? They have to decide that. But we need him here."

Paris Saint-Germain have also been linked with a move for Sanchez but it is expected that he will remain in the Premier League. Bayern Munich have been mentioned with an interest but Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has ruled out the Bundesliga making a move and claims that Sanchez has already decided his next move.

"I think that Sanchez has already decided on a club [he's going to play for]. You can assume that this door will be closed in January. It (a potential Sanchez transfer in January) is a non-issue for us, and he's not a direct back-up for Lewandowski because he's not a proper centre-forward," the Bayern president said, as quoted by the Kicker.

Alexis Sanchez
Sanchez appears destined to leave Arsenal - but it remains unknown whether it will come in January or the summer. Getty Images