Manchester City will not give Arsenal a penny for Alexis Sanchez.
The Premier League leaders have no plans to make a cut-price £20million bid for the Chilean forward during the January transfer window.
They are ready to wreck revenge on the Gunners over their decision to scupper a £60million deadline-day deal for the 28-year-old by signing him for nothing when his contract expires next summer.
Sunday Mirror Sport has learned that City are still angry at the way Arsenal handled negotiations for Sanchez in August.
After telling the Etihad club that the player was going nowhere, the Gunners changed tack at the 11th hour when it became clear that Sanchez would not be signing a new deal and had deliberately priced himself out of moves to both Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich by demanding wages of £500,000-a-week.
Arsene Wenger’s attempt to get City to agree to a deal that would see Raheem Sterling move to the Emirates was rejected by Pep Guardiola.
And the London club then accepted a bid of £60million from City just hours before the deadline – only to pull out when they failed with their own £90million mission to replace him with Monaco’s Thomas Lemar.
Now Arsenal’s decision to force Sanchez and Mezut Ozil to serve the final year of their contracts is set to cost the cash-conscious Londoners a fortune.
City’s stance is that they will wait until next summer before handing Sanchez a Sky Blue shirt – and a hefty signing-on fee
That may change if any of Guardiola’s forwards suffer a long-term injury between now and the end of January.
Or if Sanchez is given a rival offer during the winter window that is tempting enough to force them into making a bid.
But the understanding inside the Etihad corridors of power is that City remain favourites to land the former Barcelona star because he wants to be reunited with Guardiola.
City’s Mancunian rivals United are interested in Ozil – but Old Trafford bosses still need to be convinced that paying a significant amount of money for the German midfielder in January makes any business sense given his contractual situation.
Losing Sanchez and Ozil for nothing will be a devastating blow for Wenger and his club’s beleaguered board.
Arsenal have already started touting both players around Europe’s top clubs in the hope that they can recoup some money during the January scramble.
But City’s recruitment current plans are focused on bringing in a new left-back after losing Benjamin Mendy until April with torn cruciate ligaments.
Napoli’s Faouzi Ghoulam remains a target. The Algerian international will get another chance to impress Guardiola when he lines up against City in the Champions League on Wednesday night after an outstanding display at the Etihad earlier this month.
City hope to land Ghoulam for around £10million because he is out-of-contract at the end of the season.
Napoli’s bid to win Serie A for the first time since 1990 complicates their interest – although handing the Italians an early Champions League exit may help their cause.
But City have no immediate plans to enter the January market for a new centre-back – despite Vincent Kompany’s ongoing injury issues.
The Belgian has been sidelined for seven weeks after suffering a calf problem on international duty that was expected to take just days to heal.
The City captain underwent treatment in Barcelona during the week and the latest news is so positive that buying a centre-back before the summer is not yet on their shopping list.
