Sanchez to return to Arsenal training amid continued transfer speculation

Alexis Sanchez is set to return to training with Arsenal on Sunday, but the Chile international’s future remains unresolved.

With Sanchez having entered the last year of his contract, clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City have been linked with a move for the 28-year-old.

Arsene Wenger has regularly indicated he intends to keep Sanchez and risk losing him for nothing at the end of the 2017-18 season, with the forward having been given time off following the Confederations Cup.

Sanchez and Germany centre-back Shkodran Mustafi are poised to return to the club at the weekend, but the duo will not take part in Arsenal’s pre-season fixtures against Benfica and Sevilla in the Emirates Cup.

“Alexis and Mustafi, their first training session will be on Sunday, the day we play against Sevilla,” Wenger, who last weekend dismissed speculation linking Sanchez with PSG as “media imagination”, told the Arsenal website. “They are practising on the day.

“First of all you make a really good check up of where they are, how much they have worked during their break. After, once you know where you stand, they need an adjusted programme and to see how quickly you can fit them in again.

Love being an ambassador for @Arsenal next job is to pick up @Alexis_Sanchez and take him out for a night out. Might take a pen with me

— Ray Parlour (@RealRomfordPele) July 26, 2017

“Of course it depends as well on what is the need in the squad, what is their quality. All of these things together make your decision. Do you put them on the bench when they are not ready [to start]?

“It is easier to put a striker on the bench than a defender, sometimes. Because in a short period they can make an impact. We’ll see.”

Arsenal face Chelsea in the Community Shield on August 6 before getting their Premier League campaign under way against Leicester City five days later.