Arsenal star Sanchez flies to Barcelona for tax fraud case

After Wednesday's 5-1 thrashing courtesy of Bayern Munich led to the tireless Chilean's latest display of dissent, Arsenal fans can be excused for their trepidation when images of Alexis Sanchez flying out of London Heathrow Thursday surfaced.

Gunners faithful can now breathe a collective sigh of relief after Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger confirmed Friday that Sanchez had flown to Barcelona to deal with legal issues.

"He has a court case in Barcelona and he will be back in training tomorrow," Wenger told reporters, courtesy of ESPN FC.

Sanchez plead guilty to defrauding Spanish authorities of nearly €1 million in January stemming from the concealment of money earned from image rights. In a case similar to those of Barcelona standouts Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano, Sanchez veiled earnings by setting up companies in Chile and Malta.

Having already repaid the €983,443 owed, Sanchez had hoped to avoid court, though under Spanish law, it's likely that the worst case scenario is a suspended sentence that will not see the speedy Chilean serve any time. Both Messi and Mascherano were found guilty of multiple counts and handed minimal prison sentences of under two years, which results in a suspended sentence.

With Sanchez set to return to first-team training at Arsenal's Colney facility Saturday, the Premier League's leading scorer could be in contention to play non-league Sutton United Monday in FA Cup play.

For Sutton boss Paul Doswell, hopes are that Wenger gives his star striker a break.

"There's two ways of looking at it. You either get the likes of (Mesut) Ozil and Sanchez and (Olivier) Giroud - and you can just keep naming them - in which case we would lose the game comfortably but the lads would get the experience of having played a Premier League giant," Boswell told the Evening Standard's James Benge.

"If you see Ozil and Sanchez on the team sheet our chance doesn’t come beyond nought."

Whether or not Sanchez faces the fifth-tier side Monday, speculation about his future with the north London side is certain to remain a hot button issue.

With his current deal at Arsenal set to expire in 2018 and talk of an exit amid a tumultuous campaign for the Gunners, concerns are that Sanchez will demand a move in the summer after contract talks have reportedly failed to progress.