Manchester United and Arsenal were locked in a negotiation over a swap deal in the winter of 2018.
The Gunners were looking to send soon-to-be free agent, Alexis Sanchez to the Old Trafford side, but in order not to lose everything they wanted a player in exchange.
They eventually settled for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has proven to be an uninspiring signing and is currently out on loan at AS Roma.
However, the Armenian wasn’t who Arsene Wenger wanted to change in place of Sanchez. ESPN claims that the Gunners had wanted to get Anthony Martial in exchange for the Chilean.
Arsene Wenger has proven to be very good with French players since he became Arsenal’s manager and he was one of the managers that most French players wanted to play for, so he was happy to have Martial at the Emirates.
However, Manchester United turned down that request and Arsenal had to eventually settle for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The Armenian enjoyed his first campaign at Arsenal and he had even been an Arsenal target when he played for Borussia Dortmund, ESPN further claims.
However, he somehow didn’t impress Unai Emery enough, and the Spaniard sanctioned his loan move to AS Roma last summer.
Mikel Arteta has hinted at giving him a second chance, but the Italians want to make his loan move permanent.
