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Whilst watching Chile play Argentina last week, I posted a tweet with an observation about Alexis’ body language.

Alexis is a complex character for fans to assess, because he says so little. Even when he travels back to Chile for international duty, he grants few interviews.

So with his contract situation looking precarious, his on pitch body language is all we are left with to try and discern his mindset.

With Chile trailing Argentina in Buenos Aires, Sanchez’s gesticulations became increasingly obvious.

After skying a presentable free-kick, he pulled his shirt up to his mouth and bit down hard, his face contorted with frustration. My observation that his body language- so often held up as a barometer for his dissatisfaction with life in North London-is really no different in a Chile shirt.

It seldom has been. This is just who Alexis is.

Now that’s not to say that stories of his impending departure are ill-founded or inaccurate. I would be surprised if he did remain at the club at this stage. But my tweet drew some interesting responses.

There were plenty of people that found his performative expressions of dissatisfaction distasteful and detrimental to the team. In fact, a few people suggested that the Chilean’s form has been below par and that his departure would be a welcome relief!

I found that quite incredible to be honest. I began to wonder whether we, as fans, have become so accustomed to watching a nice team that we have become overly sensitive to a player as demonstrative as Sanchez.

I don’t doubt that Alexis is a difficult player to manage. He is probably quite a difficult teammate at times. Much like Diego Costa, Roy Keane and even Cristiano Ronaldo, I imagine a lot of his colleagues tolerate him at best.

Being a bit of a pillock is a trait many top players have. Top managers harness these characters and strike the balance between encouraging their competitive side and reducing the impact of their pig headedness.

It’s a very thin line of course and the point at which a player totally crosses it is subjective. I think Thierry Henry came to a stage where his effusiveness became counterproductive.

Shortly before he left the club, Henry admitted, “It is true that I can be a pig. It is not a lie to say that. Sometimes, I feel I am in the right even when I am wrong.” Sometimes competitiveness can easily morph into obnoxiousness that harms the team dynamic.

But likewise, a team of nice boys that all get on jolly well doesn’t necessarily produce the correct sporting environment.

It is a complex and delicate equation. I have to say, my impression is that Arsenal could do with just one or two more alpha males- even if to help keep Alexis in check.

(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsene tried to sign Jamie Vardy in the summer and he successfully landed Granit Xhaka. It might be a coincidence, but I read this as a deliberate attempt to spike the formula a little.

What is notable is that no two players have been more publicly admonished by Arsene Wenger this season than Xhaka and Alexis. The teams from the first half of his reign were brimming with characters like Sanchez. Difficult, occasionally prickly, but undeniably catalysts for the trophies that followed.

Patrick Vieira’s disciplinary record read like a charge sheet. Imagine being stuck in a lift with Sol Campbell. Had he represented any other football club, you and I would have been united in seething hatred at Jens Lehmann.

Lee Dixon tells an amusing anecdote of coming to blows with Dennis Bergkamp during a Friday morning fitness test. The fact that the pair were rolling around the floor grappling with one another was taken as evidence that they were in fine condition to play the next day.

Sanchez’s paroxysms seem to split opinion. Some see it as evidence of a flouncy prima donna. Others see the hallmarks of that most intangible and desirable of qualities- “the winning mentality.”

Of course, football changes much as society does. The days of Frank McLintock and colleagues gathering in Highbury’s Halfway House every Monday to knock sense into one another are long gone- for better or worse.

There is also the danger of earning the contempt of your social media peers and slipping into “yer da-isms”, as you lament Arsenal’s lack of leaders and “fighting spirit.” These might be the well-rehearsed ramblings of your father after a pint or two of Farmer’s Guff.

But it doesn’t mean they are not without a kernel of truth. Whether Alexis is a prancing diva in need of taking down a peg or two, or Arsenal’s ultimate warrior is probably subjective.

Personally I am of the opinion that Arsenal could do with a couple more like Sanchez in the group (too many would surely be impossible to manage).

I do wonder if the dilution of the squad in this respect has led to many of us becoming a little sensitive about the angry Chilean doing all that dreadful shouting all the time.