Manchester United could start next season with two of Arsenal’s best players.
United are reportedly trying to hijack Manchester City’s move for Alexis Sanchez this month. Reports on Friday claimed that the Premier League leaders are not willing to offer more than £20m for the Arsenal forward. United, however, are said to be prepared to pay the Gunners £25m for Sanchez, and they’ll even give the 29-year-old a more financially lucrative contract than the £250,000 a week offer that’s on the table from City.
Sanchez is said to still favour a move to City, but the situation could change over the next few days and weeks, and the Chilean could very well end up at Old Trafford. He could also be joined at the club by his current Arsenal teammate Mesut Ozil. According to The Independent, United plan to try sign Mesut Ozil on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the season, even if they manage to sign Sanchez this month.
Vardy or Hernandez? https://t.co/cBwmJW8yk8
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) January 13, 2018
The report claims that Jose Mourinho views Ozil as a “potentially key piece in his system.” The pair worked together at Real Madrid for three years, and remain on good terms – Mourinho even wrote the foreword to the player’s autobiography. Arsene Wenger suggested in his press conference on Friday that he doesn’t expect Sanchez to sign a new contract, but he is hopeful that Ozil will remain at the club. Yet, the German is certainly leaving it late to extend his stay.
In recent months, there has been a lot of talk about what will be Arsene Wenger’s “legacy” if he leaves Arsenal this summer. It’s fair to say, watching two of his best players leave and join his arch-nemesis Mourinho, while Arsenal are stuck with players such as Granit Xhaka and Alex Iwobi, isn’t how Wenger imagined his time at the club concluding.
