Sanchez carries the expectation of a nation like Zidane and Beckham did: Wenger

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London, Oct 14: Arsene Wenger has claimed that Chile Superstar Alexis Sanchez carries the weight of a nation on his shoulders as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane used to do for England their country and claimed that the Arsenal striker will bounce back from his World Cup heartbreak.

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Sanchez did his best to get Chile to the World Cup, scoring seven goals, just behind top scorer Edinson Cavani in the South American qualifying top-scorers list but failed to reach the promised mark.

La Roja went into the last matchday sitting third in the South American standings, however, a win for Argentina, a draw between Peru and Colombia and their defeat against Brazil saw them drop three points to end 6th - one spot below the playoff put.

The Copa America champions paid the cost for losing three of their last four qualifiers, stating that a team of South America's best in both 2015 and 2016 won't be available in next World Cup.

And Wenger who kept hold of Sanchez despite repeated transfer interest from Manchester City this summer claimed that the 29-year-old attacker belongs to the group of players who carry the burden of a nation mostly, citing examples of Zidane, Beckham and Messi.

"I would say you have in every generation a player who carries the pressure of expectation of a nation," Wenger said.

"In France, it was (Zinedine) Zidane. In England it was Beckham. We had other players in the team but it was Beckham. Why not (Steven) Gerrard? I don't know. But it was Beckham.

"In Chile it's Sanchez. In Argentina, of course, it's (Lionel) Messi. It looks like that there is somebody there in a national team who has to carry the pressure and absorb it and protect a little the rest of the team.

"It's someone normally who likes it a little bit. They like to be on the front line. Overall what does it mean? It means they have to deal with the lows as well.

"Remember 1998 when Beckham has been sent off after (kicking) Diego Simeone, he has been slaughtered here, he's not been picked for the first two qualifiers after for the European qualifiers.

"He has been treated in this country like a guy who has killed somebody. These players have to take both the positives and the negatives as well."

Arsenal will return to Premier League action with a trip to Watford on Saturday and will be hoping to include Sanchez into the squad, however, Wenger suggested that he is unsure about Sanchez's mental state after such debacle but expects him to bounce back from such a stage.

"He is as well in a very difficult mind. Chile just won the Copa America twice and now they don't even go to the World Cup," Wenger said.

"Sanchez is 29 at the end of the year, so the next one he will be 33. He expected to go. Certainly (it is) a big disappointment for him."

Wenger added: "But I believe to play at the top level as well, it is part of dealing with that kind of disappointment."