Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City could be the next big deal in what has been a very eventful January transfer window, and it could happen as early next week, The Independent reports. Typically, a January transfer window is rather slow, with few deals of note.
However, 2018 has been exceptional, with the third most expensive deal in history, Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, being completed over the weekend. We’ve also seen the most expensive deal for a defender ever, with Virgil van Dijk moving to Liverpool.
We’re only eight days into the month, so there is still lots of time for more deals to get done this window.
It was reported over the weekend that Manchester City and Arsenal have re-opened talks over Alexis. The Gunners reportedly want £35 million for the Chilean, while City believe they can get him at a more cut rate, given his out of contract at the end of the season status. It’s been reported that the two sides were about £10 million apart in their negotiations, but Independent.co.uk sees it differently, stating that progress towards a deal is being made.
“…it is understood that Arsene Wenger is now willing to sanction to a sale, having previously been absolutely determined to keep Sanchez.
A motivating factor in that is said to be dressing-room relationships, with some Arsenal players known to be perturbed by Sanchez’s general attitude. He has become an increasingly unpopular figure in the dressing room, and that is on Wenger’s mind as he tries to keep a hold of his players.”
For Manchester City, they have been firing on all cylinders right now and hence would want to leave well enough alone. At least that was the thinking up until the injury to Gabriel Jesus, which kind of re-opened the door to a January deal.
City launched an Alexis Sanchez bid during the summer transfer window, but it really didn’t come close to getting done in time. Right now, ESPN FC is reporting that City are very confident that this deal is going to get done soon. It would certainly be in the best interests of Arsenal to close a deal, because obviously, Sanchez is likely to walk in June, and that point they would receive nothing in return.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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