A lot has happened since Alexis Sanchez scored twice for Arsenal in 3-2 win over Crystal Palace at the end of December.
Sanchez looked set to join Manchester City, until their rivals Manchester United hijacked the bid and signed the Chilean. Henrikh Mkhitaryan went to the Emirates as part of the transfer. Arsenal also signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a club record fee of £55m, sanctioned Olivier Giroud’s sale to Chelsea and allowed Theo Walcott to join Everton.
Sanchez has moved on, and so has his former club. However, Hector Bellerin was still asked about his former teammate during a question and answer event with students at the Oxford Union. The Spanish full-back was asked about the incident at Selhurst Park, when many of Sanchez’s Arsenal teammates didn’t join him in celebrating a goal.
Thierry Henry was on punditry duty for Sky Sports following the match, and said that it was evidence of a “divided dressing room.” Many agreed with the former Arsenal striker, seeing the incident as confirmation that Sanchez’s teammates weren’t particular fond of him, and were eventually glad to see him go.
However, Bellerin claims he didn’t join the celebration because he was engaged in a tactical discussion with Calum Chambers, rather than because he had any issue with Sanchez.
“I remember even I stayed back, and I was talking to Calum Chambers because there was some tactical stuff that for me was more important to solve than going to celebrate a goal,” Bellerin said.
“And then the press comes out and says like, oh the dressing room is divided. And they sold that story. It’s just the way it works, but what you see in the papers, they never actually know what’s going on inside. As bad as people think it was, Alexis always wanted what is best for the club and us players wish him all the best.”
