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Atletico Madrid emerge as Arsenal’s biggest threat – Diego Simeone plans swoop for Alexis Sanchez

By Rucker Haringey

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Atletico Madrid would be an ideal destination for Alexis Sanchez

Over the years, quite a few Arsenal fans have openly clamored for the Gunners to hire Diego Simeone to replace Arsene Wenger. It seems that Alexis Sanchez might share their sentiment. The Chilean is a huge flight risk now that Atletico Madrid are contemplating a bold summer bid for the talented goal scorer.

Sources from Chile claim that Simeone and company are preparing a massive summer bid for Alexis. Atletico are currently banned from making any summer purchases, but they’re confident they will win their appeal in a similar fashion to Real Madrid.

This is exceedingly bad news for Arsenal. The Gunners have been locked in very tense contracts with Alexis’ representatives for months. They want a massive pay raise for their client to stay in North London. Wenger and company want to keep their star, but don’t want to shatter their wage structure in the process.

Before Atletico joined the fray, Arsenal didn’t face any serious competition for Alexis’ services. His representatives have attempted to leverage an obscene financial offer from China to push the Gunners, but Wenger and company know he isn’t going to accept a move there.

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PSG have also been linked heavily with a summer move. It’s unlikely that Alexis would accept the move to France given the club’s current struggles. He’s at the stage of his career where he wants to win trophies immediately. Helping PSG win Ligue 1 would not qualify as the grand stage he’s looking for.

Alexis’ desire to compete for Europe’s top prizes immediately works perfectly with Simeone’s plan for Atleti. The talented manager has made it very obvious he will not stay at the club forever. He wants ownership to expend every possible resource to help the club win a Champions League title as soon as next season. Remember, they’ve reached the final twice under Simeone already. Each time they capitulated to Spanish rivals Real Madrid.

Adding Alexis this summer would give Simeone an excellent chance to retain Antoine Griezmann as well. The Frenchman has frequently been linked with a summer move to Manchester United, but the chance to play alongside Alexis should be enough to keep him in Spain for another season. The presence of that attacking duo would finally put Simeone’s offense on par with his tenacious defensive unit.

Next: Tottenham likely to end Bruma pursuit

Arsenal finally are facing a real threat in the race to hang on to Alexis Sanchez. A move to play for Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid may be too tempting for the Chilean to turn down.

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