Arsenal have reportedly withdrawn their contract offer to midfielder Aaron Ramsey.
The 27-year-old’s current deal expires next summer and he looks set to leave the club for free or in a cut-price move in January.
Ramsey is not the first Gunners star to run down his contract at the Emirates in recent times.
Alexis Sanchez refused a new deal and left to join Manchester United last January with less than six months left on his contract.
Mesut Ozil committed his future to the club in January by signing a new three-and-a-half-year deal but Jack Wilshere left on a free in the summer after not being assured game time by head coach Emery.
But ex-Liverpool striker Saunders cannot understand why Emery and the club have allowed the situation again, this time with Ramsey.
“I can’t understand it,” he said.
“He’s been at Arsenal for ten years and they’ve let his contract run down.
“And it’s not just him, it happened with Ozil and it happened with Sanchez.
“Once the players can see the finishing line on their contract, you’ve lost all control as a club.
“They managed to keep hold of Ozil, but it has cost them an absolute fortune, and now this is what happens, the players are knocking on the door saying: ‘If he’s getting that, what are you going to give me?’. The bar has gone up.
“It’s a game of poker now, but Arsenal have lost the power.
“Ramsey and his agent have got the power now, because he can just let his contract run out and leave for nothing.
“Arsene Wenger played him everywhere across in the midfield and he is a massively important player for Wales.
“He can do a bit of everything, he sees passes, he’ll go box to box and he covers more ground than most players.
“At the Euros (in 2016) I think he covered more ground than every other player.”