Alexis Sánchez is staying at Arsenal, after seeing a £60m move to Manchester City collapse on deadline day. Arsenal were open, in the end, to selling him to City, despite a summer of insistences to the contrary, but they maintained they would do so only if they could sign a new attacking player.
Monaco’s Thomas Lemar was the one they wanted and, incredibly, they met the Ligue 1 champions’ €100m (£92m) asking price. City, meanwhile, put forward a second cash offer for Sánchez, which was worth £55m plus £5m in add-ons. Arsenal were inclined to accept it.
But with Lemar playing for France against Holland in a World Cup qualifier – he scored twice in a 4-0 victory on Thursday night – Arsenal said they ran out of time to conclude what would have been a complicated financial package – not to mention put Lemar through a medical. And so, to the disappointment of Sánchez, who had pushed for the move, he found the path to the Etihad Stadium was blocked.
Pep Guardiola had demanded the signing of Sánchez, with whom he had worked at Barcelona in the 2011-12 season, and there was the belief at City on Thursday morning that everything was in place – most important, Arsenal’s deal for Lemar. That would prove to be incorrect and there has been the feeling at City that Lemar simply rejected Arsenal.
The Sánchez saga has dominated the summer. He has long made it plain he will not sign a new deal at Arsenal, despite the club offering him fresh terms on around £300,000 a week; his contract pays him £130,000 a week.
He hoped Arsenal would relent in the face of standing to lose such a valuable asset for nothing next summer. But instead, with Arsène Wenger the public face of the policy, the club insisted they would rather keep him for one last year, even if it meant losing him as a Bosman free agent.
Arsenal did the sums and they concluded that they have a better chance of returning to the Champions League with Sánchez in the team and reacquainting themselves with the £40m-a-year revenue streams from the competition. Therefore, they were never going to accept any offers for him of £40m-£50m.
They rejected City’s opening offer of £50m on Tuesday yet, by then, their stance had altered. It became clear there was a tipping point on Sánchez, albeit an expensive one, and City were encouraged.
They were so confident on Wednesday night they would be able to push through a deal that they put a medical team on standby in Chile – where Sánchez has been on international duty.
Everything depended on Arsenal making a marquee attacking signing but, in short, they were unable to do so. There had been fears at the club that getting such a deal over the line in a short space of time would be impossible. Arsenal made three bids for Lemar earlier in the summer – the biggest being worth €50m. But even the €100m offer did not end with it getting the job done.
Arsenal are in turmoil after the 4-0 humiliation at Liverpool last Sunday but, at least, they stuck to their guns over not selling Sánchez without adding a new player. In the past, they have caved in over players who have one year to run on their contracts whereas this time, they have refused to put £60m in the bank at the expense of the make-up of the team.
The fervent hope at the club is that Sánchez will demonstrate his innate fighting spirit and reapply himself when he returns from the international break. But against that is the feeling in some areas of the squad Arsenal might have been better off to cut their losses on a player who no longer wants to be there.
Certain players have had their fill of the Sánchez situation and everything that has gone with it. After the Wenger contract saga of last season, they are conscious that Sánchez promises to be this season’s distraction.
Arsenal also received a €40m deadline-day inquiry from Juventus for the right-back Héctor Bellerín, which felt like a bolt from the blue or an opportunistic strike from the Italian champions. Perhaps, they felt that they could exploit the turbulence at Arsenal or they were aware Bellerín had wanted out earlier in the summer – to his boyhood club, Barcelona, who had shown a keen interest. The offer was dismissed.
Arsenal did complete the season-long loans of Lucas Pérez and Joel Campbell to Deportivo La Coruña and Real Betis, respectively. Pérez joined from Deportivo for £17m last summer. Campbell had been against going out on yet another loan but he was talked around. He has now had six loans since joining Arsenal in 2011. His contract at the club runs until 2019.
Wenger was unable to move Mathieu Debuchy and Chuba Akpom, while Jack Wilshere also stayed put.