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New Arsenal signing Alexis Sanchez is due to arrive at the club for pre-season training on Tuesday, but he is likely to miss the club’s training camp in Austria.
Manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that £35m signing Sanchez will remain in London to train with the club’s staff once he has secured his work permit to play in the Premier League, with the Chile international set to travel to Paris to gain his visa.
Arsenal returned from their pre-season tour of the United States on Sunday following a 1-0 defeat to Thierry Henry’s New York Red Bulls side, where they notably started the match without a recognised striker on the field.
The Gunners will train at their London Colney base today before heading to Austria for a four-day training camp. They will returned ahead of the weekend when they host the Emirates Cup, where they will face Benfica on Saturday and Monaco on Sunday, with Valencia making up the quartet of European clubs.
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“I don’t think Sanchez will come to Austria because he has to go to Paris to get a visa, so he will only go so he will work in London,” revealed Wenger, who will also welcome new signings Mathieu Debuchy and David Ospina to his squad this week.
Colombian goalkeeper Ospina saw his £3.2m transfer from French side Nice completed on Sunday, with the 25-year-old set to compete with Wojciech Szczesny for the No 1 shirt. They could soon be joined by Southampton youngster Calum Chambers, with the 19-year-old set to complete his £16m move to the Gunners later this week.
Despite his young age, Wenger believes that his versatility as well as his “quality and intelligence” mean that the gamble to spend a considerable chunk of money on the teenager will pay off in the long run.
“He hasn’t played many games but the English players on the market in England are very expensive,” Wenger added. “At the end of the day I was ready to take a gamble because he is a one for the future.
“He is a player I wanted because I rated his quality and intelligence. He is only 19 and can play at centre-back, right-back and central midfield. I hope he will give us competition for the players in those three positions.”
After landing Ospina, Wenger appeared to rule out moving for another goalkeeper despite links with Real Madrid shot-stopper Iker Casillas still doing the rounds.
“I’ve known him for a long time,” Wenger said of Ospina. “He went to Nice a few years ago and became a very important player. You can see he has quality. We had three or four candidates but I decided during the World Cup to sign him.”
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