Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin admitted that January departure Alexis Sanchez demanded "too much" from his Gunners brethren at times, while refuting talk of a dressing room divide.
"Alexis is an amazing player, for me one of the best players in the Premier League for sure. But he's a player who always wants to win. He demands from everyone, and sometimes it can be quite too much," Bellerin responded during a Q&A session with the Oxford Union, courtesy of ESPN UK.
"But the good thing about him, he just wants to win, it doesn't matter who he's playing for. At that time when he was playing for Arsenal, he just wanted to give 100 percent for Arsenal."
Sanchez moved to Manchester United during the January window in a swap deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go the other way, though, even amid reports of a divide caused by the tireless Chilean's desire to leave, Bellerin refuses to suggest that the goal machine quit on the team.
"It's true that this season maybe things weren't going as well for him, but I truly believe that he was giving his 100 percent in every game," the Spaniard added.
With Sanchez's on-pitch behaviour the subject of doubts, a specific incident against Crystal Palace the last week of December drew the ire of pundits. A large chunk of football cognoscenti, including Arsenal all-time goal leader Thierry Henry, suggested that several players' failure to celebrate a Sanchez goal hinted at a dressing room divide.
Bellerin is one of those who did not join Sanchez in celebration at the Selhurst Park corner flag, but the pacey right-back says talk of a split is hogwash. "I remember even I stayed back, and I was talking to Calum Chambers because there was some tactical stuff that for me was more important to solve than going to celebrate a goal.
"It's just the way it works, but what you see in the papers, they never actually know what's going on inside. As bad as people think it was, Alexis always wanted what is best for the club and us players wish him all the best."