Change of heart: Alexis Sanchez was initially not for sale, but then Arsenal accepted a late bid, only to fail to sell him

“Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will stay: 100% I expect him to stay. There is no speculation. No matter what happens he will stay.” — Arsène Wenger, July 15, 2017.

We will get to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but first a story about the player who could have made everything so different for ­Arsenal: N’Golo Kante. A friend in France told Arsène Wenger all about Kante when he was in Ligue 2 with Caen.

Wenger dispatched Gilles Grimandi, his chief scout in France, to watch the ­little dynamo but Grimandi was not wowed. Six out of 10. Wenger’s friend persisted and Grimandi was sent to look again, but came back with another ­sceptical report. The manager kept monitoring Kante, but having just brought Mathieu Flamini back, and with Mikel Arteta,