Arsenal could be dealt another bitter blow this week as it has been revealed that Man City have been in serious talks to buy Alexis Sanchez in the last few days, and he could be leaving the Emirates imminently if Pep Guardiola accepts the £35m asking price, or the deal could be delayed if they start haggling over the price and try and get a compromise at around £25m.
Usually Arsene Wenger would have a few top stars on the bench in such an important game like the FA Cup where we are defending our trophy, but instead we had academy players like Nketiah and surpringly Akpom as the only possibilities to add to our attacking force, which was hardly going to scare Forest.
Of course this means that Alexis can play for Man City in the FA Cup as well as the Champions League this season if he moves this month, which will make his acquisition much more attractive to the City heirarchy. The report from Goal states: Alexis was left out of the Arsenal squad for their FA Cup third-round tie at Nottingham Forest on Sunday, which the Gunners lost 4-2. That would allow him to play for City in the FA Cup, providing a deal is agreed.
The Chilean could also be registered in the Blues’ Champions League squad. Clubs can register a maximum of one player who has previously played in the Europa League group stage ahead of the Champions League knock-out rounds.
They seem very confident from their sources that this is practically a done deal and it is only the price that could stop the deal going through quickly. They also said: The Gunners are resigned to losing Alexis in January and have informed City that they want around £35 million for the Chilean.
City are unwilling to match that amount but sources have told Goal that the Premier League leaders are hopeful they can avoid a repeat of the protracted summer saga by tying up a deal long before the transfer deadline at the end of this month.
There are many Arsenal fans that believe we should cash in on Alexis as soon as possible if we can, but we should surely be hoping that Wenger has a replacement lined up (like Riyad Mahrez?) How will we feel if it happens this week after such a disappointing result?
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