Alexis Sanchez

ALEXIS Sanchez is in contention to appear for Arsenal this Sunday when they tackle London rivals Chelsea in the FA Community Shield at Wembley.

The forward’s future remains the subject of uncertainty amid never-ending reports about a possible move away from north London, with Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City the clubs most regularly linked with his signature.

He was originally meant to return to first team training on Sunday, but when he posted a picture on his Instagram account revealing that he was sick, rumours about his imminent departure from Arsenal spread like wildfire.

The Chilean did finally return on Tuesday, however, and was pictured joking around with manager Arsene Wenger at the club’s London Colney training ground.

The Sanchez saga was the big talking point over the weekend when Arsenal won their pre-season Emirates Cup tournament without him.

Quizzed over his delay back to training, Wenger said: “He has flu. I had him on text saying he’d come back as soon as possible. There’s no problem.”

Wenger insisted again that Sanchez, who is in the final year of his current contract, won’t be going anywhere this summer.

“There’s no development on his future,” he explained. “It’s always the same. He’s staying, of course.”

Sanchez isn’t the only first team player nearing the end of his current Arsenal contract.

Mesut Ozil is also seemingly stalling over a new deal, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs could also all leave on a free in 12 months’ time.

Wenger, however, rejects the notion that he faces a major issue due to the number of first-teamers entering the final year of their contracts, claiming the club is, in fact, in a perfect position.

“I think it is an ideal situation. When you are a football player you perform until the last days of your contract,” he said. “I think the performance on the day does not depend on the length of the contract, if that was true we would sign everyone for 20 years and be happy.

“In the future, I think you will see more often players going to the end of their contracts,” Wenger added.

“Why? Because transfers are becoming so high even for normal players that you will see more players going to the end of their contracts because no one is going to want to pay what is demanded.

“I’m convinced in the next 10 years that will become usual.”

Meanwhile The FA has confirmed that Sunday’s Community Shield will kick off an hour earlier than scheduled to avoid a clash with the Women’s European Championship final.

The match between FA Cup winners Arsenal and Premier League champions Chelsea was originally due to kick off at the traditional time of 3pm but it has now been brought forward to 2pm.