This could get very serious indeed.
Throughout the whole of Thursday, the sounds coming out of Manchester City were that they were very confident of concluding a deal to bring Alexis Sanchez to the Emirates. The Chilean played under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and was the City manager’s number one target this summer. The feeling was very much reciprocated with Sanchez desperate to swap London for Manchester.
But in the end, it just didn’t happen. The story goes that Arsenal allegedly agreed a £60m deal with City in the morning, confident that they could get Thomas Lemar of Monaco in as a replacement. That didn’t happen because the Ligue 1 simply weren’t up for negotiating, and in turn, that had a domino effect on Sanchez’s move. It all came tumbling down leaving City and the player furious.
But it’s not merely a case of empty anger, the breakdown in the deal could have extremely significant consequences. According to El Mercurio in Chile, City will purse legal action against Arsenal for not concluding the deal as arranged. According to the paper, and news agency EMOL, Sanchez even signed a contract with the Manchester club. According to the report, City accuse Arsenal of non-fulfilment of an agreement.
It is important to note that El Mercurio are not merely a sports tabloid inclined to idle gossip. They are the oldest daily newspaper in the Spanish language in circulation in Chile, and are considered to be very conservative with their reporting. It remains to be seen what the consequences of any action may be.
