Alexis Sanchez: Why Arsenal striker will still end up at Man City, if he wants to

If not, then he might have to see his contract out but, one way or another, it looks like he is leaving and Arsenal only have themselves to blame.

In recent years, a top-four finish has always been good enough for Arsenal under Wenger because, financially, qualifying for the Champions League has always been acceptable for them.

But it is looking increasingly likely that they won’t make the top four again this year, and they are also about to lose out on a lot of money because they have allowed players’ contracts to run down too.

They could lose Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere for nothing in the summer and, even if they get £20-30m for Sanchez then that is all they will see out of the thick end of £150m-worth of players.

Then they have to replace them – and they would have to spend another £150m doing that.

So for all the great work that Wenger has done for them financially over the years, they are about to miss out on an absolute fortune this year.

They are the real losers here, not whoever misses out on Sanchez out of City or United.

These are worrying times for the Gunners because they are already miles behind both Manchester teams and it looks like they will be getting weaker, not stronger, in the near future.

Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.