Manchester City an escape for dissatisfied Arsenal star Alexis?
With trouble brewing in north London, Manchester City might be a landing spot for disaffected Arsenal talisman Alexis.
The Alexis-Pep Guardiola reunion at Manchester City rumors have started up again.
According to The Telegraph, the Blues could offer themselves as an escape route for the unhappy Arsenal star, as the feud between him and manager Arsene Wenger grows bigger each week.
Against Liverpool on Saturday, Wenger decided to bench Alexis for the first half. The results were disastrous for the embattled Frenchman and his shrinking claim to the manager job at the Emirates.
Not only did the Gunners lose 2-1, he’s losing any sort of faith he still has left with his star Chilean forward. As Sports Illustrated’s Peter Berlin notes, Alexis hates being subbed off. I’m sure not being among the starting 11 against the likes of Liverpool is another blow to a proud ego.
So while this might be awful for Wenger and Arsenal supporters, I’m not at all above taking pleasure at their pain. Nor are publications like The Telegraph that speculate about Alexis leaving for a rendezvous with a Premier League rival like City.
The Telegraph mentions that these disputes coincided with contractual ones between Alexis and Arsenal. The club offered him £180,000 in weekly wages earlier to no avail.
The article further goes on to write that Alexis might be more financially feasible to sign than say Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. It also presents the notion of an attack that can field some combination of Alexis, Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.
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“Combination” is the pivotal word here; I don’t believe there is room or real need for Alexis in City’s attack. The emergence of Sane and greater consistency from Sterling makes the would-be arrival surplus. If he’s would play center forward, it probably means Aguero goes, which I don’t like, and also another tiresome dilemma between fielding the veteran Chilean or the prodigious Jesus. Whether Alexis is already familiar with Guardiola’s tactics is of no consequence.
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I prefer for City’s front office to spend money on where its weakest — the defense and holding midfield — before getting another world class attacker.