Man City Reportedly 'Furious' With Arsenal After Failing in Deadline Day Alexis Sanchez Deal
Manchester City are reportedly 'furious' with Arsenal after the deadline day saga that saw a proposed move for Alexis Sanchez fail to materialise, despite being agreed in principle.
The Gunners had finally relented were prepared to sell the wantaway Chilean for around £60m, but would only give the final go ahead if they could bring in a suitable replacement before the deadline.
That was supposed to be Thomas Lemar after Monaco accepted a £92m package, but the French international decided against the move, supposedly as a result of the lack of Champions League football on offer at the Emirates Stadium.
With Lemar falling through too late, it meant there was no time for Arsenal to chase another target and therefore the plug was pulled on Sanchez.
According to the Daily Mail, City were left fuming as a result. The word 'flabbergasted' is used to describe their reaction to Arsenal not doing their 'due diligence' on Lemar and whether he actually wanted to join the club.
City already had officials and staff in South America ready to complete the deal, with Sanchez having been in action for Chile in a World Cup qualifier against Paraguay. Yet Arsenal apparently stopped communicating at some point in the afternoon, leading a Mail source to term it 'shambolic'.
It had become clear that Sanchez, who will be out of contract next summer, was desperate to complete the move to Manchester where he would have been reunited with former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
If City wanted Sanchez that badly, they should have made a better offer sooner. No good whining, they didn't leave Arsenal enough time.— Jamie Spencer (@jamiespencer155) September 1, 2017
But the Sky Blues are certainly far from blameless in this. It is said that despite regular contact over the deal at boardroom level between Ferran Soriano and Ivan Gazidis, City didn't actually come forward with their first official offer until Tuesday, just two days before the deadline.
Arsenal rejected that opening £50m bid, with the actual agreement over the fee not then in place until Thursday when there were mere hours left in which to conduct all of the business.
