In Arsenal's 3-1 win against Crystal Palace in December, a curious moment occurred. Alexis Sanchez had put the Gunners 2-1 up but the resulting team celebration was very light on numbers.
Sanchez had been angling for a move and his actions were clearly causing unrest in the dressing room. Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin was one of the players who failed to join the Chilean in celebrating the goal.
But now theSpaniard has, in an interview with the Oxford Union, revealed the reason for not joining his team mate in the aftermath of the strike:
There was one game against Crystal Palace. We celebrated a goal and some of the players went. I stayed back, I was talking to Calum Chambers and others because there was some tactical stuff.
For me, that was more important than celebrating the goal.
On Sky Sports, Thierry Henry scolded the players who failed to take part in celebrating the strike claiming that they should have joined in with the rest of the team in celebrating the goal:
He is asking them to come. 'Why are they not coming? Don't you want to celebrate?
You're not here for Alexis Sanchez, you're here for Arsenal. Arsenal scored. Go and celebrate. Whoever does it, we don't care about that, go and celebrate with your team-mate.
Bellerin's reasoning feels rather unsatisfying and the rest of the interview doesn't do much more than pay Sanchez lip service, Bellerin praising the forward for his professionalism. Though Bellerin does mention the Chilean's demanding nature as a bone of contention within the team.
The full back said that he felt that Sanchez had been giving his all for the club even though "things weren't going well for him":
Alexis is an amazing player. One of the best in the Premier League for sure, but he is a player who always wants to win. He demands from everyone, sometimes it can be too much.
Sanchez went on to sign for Manchester United in January, and was replaced by United misfit Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It's fair to say both players have not had a seamless transition into their respective teams, Mkhitaryan drew criticism during Arsenal's loss to Spurs at the weekend and Sanchez has also found the bedding in process tricky in Manchester, United losing away to Newcastle on Sunday.
