London: Chelsea are trying hijack Manchester United’s bid to sign Alexis Sanchez in another dramatic twist to this extraordinary transfer saga after Manchester City balked at the price of the deal and pulled out of the race for the Arsenal striker.
City had been the favourites to sign Sanchez but the Premier League leaders have chosen to walk away after it became apparent that the cost of completing the transfer this month would exceed the £60 million (Dh303 million) fee they agreed with Arsenal for the Chilean last summer before the deal collapsed on deadline day.
United have offered Armenia playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a makeweight in the deal as they seek to match Arsenal’s £35 million valuation of Sanchez and are still in pole position to sign the striker, despite Chelsea’s late interest.
They are also prepared to meet Sanchez’s demand for a signing-on fee of up to £20 million in addition to footing a potential £10 million bill for the striker’s agent, Fernando Felicevich, which would value the overall deal at £65 million for a 29-year-old who is out of contract at the end of the season.
That figure does not include the reputed £400,000-a-week wages, including bonuses and image rights, Sanchez is in line to earn and which would make him the highest-paid player in the Premier League.
United remain the front runners but they face competition from Chelsea, who are thought to be undeterred by the huge costs involved in trying to sign Sanchez, even if that stands at odds with some of the prudent scaling back at the club. Arsenal were thought to have had no direct contact from Chelsea as of last night.
City were unwilling to go above the 20 million pounds they offered this month but they have left the door open for Sanchez if he has a change of heart and is prepared to accept the terms on offer last summer, when he stood to earn around £275,000 a week.
City are convinced Sanchez’s preference was to join them, primarily for footballing reasons and the prospect of playing under Pep Guardiola, but the club were opposed to entertaining the sums now involved. It would have far outstripped the earnings of any of their current players and there were concerns about disrupting the wage structure as well as the harmony in the dressing room as they home in on the league title.
With Gabriel Jesus now likely to return sooner than expected from a knee injury, City also felt there was less of a need to sign a striker this month.
Guardiola was part of a conference call with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain and was said to be fully on board with the decision to withdraw from the race. City remain in the hunt for a centre-half and are in talks with West Bromwich Albion over Northern Ireland defender Jonny Evans. They have also held discussions with Shakhtar Donetsk over defensive midfielder Fred, although a summer move would be more likely at this stage.
It would take another dramatic turn of events for United to now lose out on Sanchez. Mkhitaryan was left out of United’s squad against Stoke City on Monday night as Arsenal consider taking him in return for selling Sanchez. The Armenian joined United from Borussia Dortmund for £26.3 million in 2016 but he has fallen out of favour under Jose Mourinho, who has admitted he will listen to offers.
Asked about Mkhitaryan’s omission last night, Mourinho said: “I would lie if I said it was a pure tactical decision. It was just a choice of the players that we know, in this moment, have 100 per cent their heads in Manchester United.
“I don’t think it’s easy for a player to play when there are doubts about his future.”
— The Telegraph Group Ltd, London
