Manchester City were left seething at Arsenal’s handling of Alexis Sanchez on Thursday night after a dramatic £60million deadline-day move fell flat.
Sanchez was sat inside Santiago’s Estadio Monumental David Arrellano ready to sign for Pep Guardiola’s team ahead of Chile’s World Cup qualifier against Paraguay on Thursday night.
The 28-year-old believed a deal was set before being denied by Arsenal’s failure to land Monaco winger Thomas Lemar for an eye-watering £92m.
City had officials on hand in South America to oversee Sanchez’s transfer. They were given encouragement at around 10am that Arsene Wenger was some way down the line in finalising a replacement.
The respective chief executives, Ivan Gazidis and Ferran Soriano had been in dialogue all summer but City did not make their first formal offer of £50m until Tuesday.
Arsenal argue they were left with too little time to sign Lemar. It became clear on Thursday afternoon that the France international wanted Champions League football and had designs on joining Liverpool.
That left City sources flabbergasted, baffled that Wenger’s team had not done their due diligence in their pursuit of Lemar.
Communication from the Emirates Stadium went quiet early in the afternoon and one source slammed Arsenal as ‘shambolic’.
Wenger had suggested throwing in Raheem Sterling as part of the deal on Tuesday but Guardiola made it clear to Soriano that he would prefer a straight cash transfer.
It leaves Sanchez, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, in a state of flux until January at least. City are likely to test Arsenal’s resolve again in the winter transfer window.
Sanchez was disappointed at not sealing an Arsenal exit and is highly unlikely to pen new terms, making him available on a free.
City are, however, wary that Sanchez could opt to sign elsewhere next summer, particularly after Dani Alves went back on his verbal pledge to join City and performed a U-turn before moving to Paris Saint-Germain.
-Dailymail