Alexis Sanchez will know he has to leave Arsenal as soon as possible with the Chilean staring down just three more years at the top, says Graeme Souness.
Arsenal have fallen well short of the Premier League and Champions League standard this season and Sanchez has so far refused to sign a new deal at the club.
Souness believes the attacker has at most three more years at the top of his game.
And the former Liverpool player thinks Sanchez will know he cannot waste it at Arsenal.
‘Will he be looking at the bigger picture? He’s 28 now,’ Souness told Premier League Daily.
‘He is a player who plays with high energy. He’s not a silky player that will be able to play a different style when he gets to 30.
‘For him to be effective, he can only play one way and that’s non-stop for 90 minutes.
‘He will think he’s got maybe three years left of being at his very best and in those three years he wants to be winning
trophies.
‘He will be looking and thinking, ‘Will I be doing that at Arsenal?’
‘I think he’s come to the answer that no he won’t be.’
Arsenal are now in danger of missing out on a place in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
Arsene Wenger has always guided his side to a spot in Europe’s top competition, but Souness believes this season is when that run ends.
‘How do you take this team to one that will challenge Bayern Munich or Barcelona for the Champions League or challenge for the Premier League title,’ he said.
‘In the last decade there were seasons when you looked at Arsenal and thought, ‘They are only two or three players away.’
‘But they never did that and they have drifted and that’s why I think they will miss out on the Champions League this year.’
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