Arsenal Made a Mistake Spending £32m on Alexis Sanchez, Says Mikael Silvestre

Former Arsenal and Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre believes the Gunners made a mistake in spending £32m to bring Alexis Sanchez to the club.

For the second consecutive summer, Arsene Wenger silenced his critics and brought one of La Liga's biggest talents to the Emirates as Chile international Sanchez signed a long term deal with the north London club.

The 25-year-old's arrival sparked a series of new additions at the club with Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina and Calum Chambers all joining him since.

However, with Nicklas Bendtner poised to leave the club and Yaya Sanogo yet to prove himself as a reliable option, Arsenal are still short of a striker with Olivier Giroud their sole option at the forefront of their attack.

And Silvestre, who spent two seasons with the Gunners between 2008 and 2010, believes the club should have perhaps looked to address that issue before spending £32m on the former Barcelona star.

"Arsenal have already got that type of player – quick, sharp, fast, they have enough of them already in Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla," Silvestre told Goal.com

"What they really need is someone like Olivier Giroud. I think that should be their priority at the moment.

"Sanchez could have gone anywhere after his tremendous World Cup but I do not think he is the type of player the club need right now."

Having addressed concerns in goal and at right back, Wenger is still expected to strengthen other areas of his side. The club remain heavily linked with a host of names to compete with and eventually replace Mikel Arteta in the holding midfield role, most notably Real Madrid lynchpin Sami Khedira who has just one more year remaining on his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The club are also likely to be in the market for a new centre half should Thomas Vermaelen leave. The Belgian international has been frozen out of the first team having been able to break the partnership of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny and as a result has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United.