Juan Antonio Pizzi: 'Alexis Sanchez 100% focused on Chile'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 18 June 2017

Juan Antonio Pizzi claims that forward Alexis Sanchez is only focused on helping Chile to Confederations Cup glory, rather than his uncertain Arsenal future.

Chile manager Juan Antonio Pizzi has said that he is confident Alexis Sanchez has put his uncertain Arsenal future to one side ahead of his side's Confederations Cup opener.

The 28-year-old has been tipped to leave the Emirates Stadium in the coming weeks after failing to agree terms on a new deal, leaving him with just 12 months left to run on his current terms.

Manchester City reportedly lead the race for Sanchez, who impressed once again last term for his club side by netting 30 goals in all competitions, while Bayern Munich have previously shown an interest.

Sanchez is currently on international duty in Russia, however, preparing for Sunday's group-stage clash with Cameroon, which Pizzi believes will be at the front of the forward's mind.

"100%, 100%," he told reporters. "This is related to what I have said before. All our players are really focused on what we are doing and of course what they want to do is try and win the tournament and of course win this game.

"There is so many things around football players that are related to their individual careers, their personal lives. But in this sort of situation, right before a tournament as important as this, players forget those things because what they really care about is representing their country and Chile."

Chile also face Australia and Germany in the Confederations Cup, with the top two sides going through to the semi-finals.