Does Arsenal's refusal to sell Sanchez represent their new stance on contracts?

With Premier League prize money rising every season are we set to see TV money outweigh the potential transfer fees of clubs' star players?

To the casual observer, Arsenal have long-since had a problem with letting their top players leave the club earlier than they would have liked.

The problem goes back quite some time, with the likes of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry being good examples. However, now it seems that Arsenal are ready to put their foot down.

The club have allegedly told Alexis Sanchez that he will have to see out his contract befopre he can join a Premier League rival, say, Manchester City for example.

This runs contrary to what had become Arsenal's standard operating precedure over recent years.

Concerns over the price of building the Emirates Stadium saw the club sell Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City for a combined £70m.

However, the most infuriating example for 'Gunners' fans was Robin Van Persie's move to Manchester United in 2012, with the Dutchman in the same position that Sanchez currently finds himself in, Arsenal opted to sell. With RVP duly firing United to the title the following season.

Wenger has no doubt learnt from that experience, with him insisting this week that "the decision is not to sell."

With the Emirates now completely paid off, with Wenger desperate to repairs the cracks in his legacy that have started to appear and the huge amounts of prize money on offer for winning a trophy, it makes more sense to keep Sanchez around, even if that means him leaving for nothing this time next year.

It remains to be seen if Arsenal will take this same stance with other players of whether they see Sanchez as a unique case. It will certainly be interesting to see.