Team-mate tells Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez: It’s time you joined a big club!

Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez has been advised by Chilean team-mate Arturo Vidal to leave the Gunners and join a ‘big club’ instead this summer.

Sanchez is one of the most in-demand players in world football after a stunning campaign, and is being chased by the likes of Bayern Munich, PSG and Manchester City.

Reports emerged last week suggesting that Sanchez’s agent had already flown to Bayern to listen to their salary offer, while Pep Guardiola is ready to break the bank to land him.

And Vidal believes Sanchez should jump at the chance to leave the Emirates, advising his friend and team-mate that he needs to join a top-tier club.

Speaking at Santiago Airport on his return to Chile, he explained to reporters: ‘I told him [Sanchez] that it’s a big opportunity for him, to be in a big team.

‘And if you want to compete with the big teams, you have to go to the best team in the world.’

Like Vidal, Sanchez is expected to link up with the Chilean national team shortly, who are taking part in this year’s Confederations Cup in Russia from mid-June onwards.

Speaking of the tournament, Vidal added: ‘I promised my wife and my children that I would return with the Confederations Cup, and the sacrifice I will make [to achieve that] will be very great.’

Sanchez has previously spoken of his desire to compete in the Champions League, and Arsenal’s failure to qualify for Europe’s top-tier competition has seriously hurt their chances of keeping the Chilean.

He only has one year left to run on a contract that expires in 2018, and there is a growing perception that Arsenal are preparing to sell the forward rather than risk losing him on a free transfer.

Sanchez has a tremendous campaign for the Gunners, starring in the FA Cup final after notching 24 goals in the Premier League and laying on a further 10 assists.

Bayern would need to make him the club’s most expensive player to land his signature, while Man City are believed to be putting together a financial package that the Germans cannot match.

Guardiola has already spent £43 million on Bernardo Silva and is set to make Benfica’s Ederson the world’s most expensive keeper.

His next goal is to get Sanchez and Sergio Aguero on the same team, while he also wants to bring in Monaco left-back Benjamin Mendy and Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker.