£35m Arsenal signing Alexis Sanchez to miss pre-season due to visa problem - 7M sport

£35m Arsenal signing Alexis Sanchez to miss pre-season due to visa problem



Posted Monday, July 28, 2014 by Dailystar.co.uk

ALEXIS SANCHEZ will miss Arsenal's pre-season camp in Austria this week - because he doesn't have a visa.

£35m Arsenal signing Alexis Sanchez to miss pre-season due to visa problem
PERMIT PROBLEMS: Sanchez has been forced to go to Paris and sort out his work visa

The Chilean ace was given extra time off following the World Cup and did not join the Gunners squad on their whistle stop tour to New York.

Boss Arsene Wenger was hoping to get the chance to finally work with his £35m man today when his squad land in Austria for four days of training.

But Sanchez will instead go to Paris to sort out his visa.

He will train on his own at the Gunners' Hertfordshire training base before the rest of his new team-mates return on Thursday.

German World Cup winners Lukas Podolski, Mesut Ozil and Per Mertesacker will not return until August 11 - the day after the Community Shield clash with Manchester City.

Wenger said: "I am looking forward to integrating Sanchez into the squad but I don't think Sanchez will come to Austria because he has to go to Paris to get a visa.

"So he will only go to London Colney on Tuesday and we come back from Austria on Thursday so he will work in London.

"Alex Oxlade Chamberlin didn't come to New York. We haven't done a lot of training in the last two days so I wanted him to stay back and work with the fitness coaches."

While Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy and Colombia World Cup goalkeeper David Ospina are already in the bag, Wenger will this week complete a £12m deal for Southampton's teenage right-back Calum Chambers, as Starsport revealed on Friday.

The 19-year-old has played just 22 times for Saints.

£35m Arsenal signing Alexis Sanchez to miss pre-season due to visa problemWenger knows eyebrows will be raised at such a huge sum for such an inexperienced player.

But he reckons the England under-19 defender is a class act.

"He is a player I wanted because I rated his quality and intelligence, he is only 19 and can play in different positions as well," said Wenger.

"Yes, he can play at centre-back, right-back and central midfield. I hope he will give us competition for the players in this three positions.

"He hasn't played many games though but the English players on the market in England are very expensive and at the end of the day I was ready to take a gamble because he is a player for the future.

"With Ospina I've known him for a long time because he plays for Nice.

"He went there a few years ago and slowly became a very important player in Nice.

"I think he also did very well at the World Cup. We had three or four candidates and I decided it during the World Cup."

Wenger saw the Gunners go down to a Bradley Wright-Phillips strike on Saturday night against New York Red Bulls, who are mid-way through their MLS season.

Wenger added: "The level was a little bit high physically for us, we weren't ready for that kind of intensity.

"Some of the players came back last Monday and played today but overall it was a good work, but the real work starts now and then the Emirates Cup.

"The problem is our pre-season will be very short, these post World Cup years are a nightmare for us because we have no preparation."



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