Manchester United make late effort to hi-jack Manchester City’s Sanchez deal

Manchester United have entered the race to sign Manchester City target Alexis Sanchez, claims The Guardian.

Sanchez has entered the final six months of his existing Arsenal deal and Arsene Wenger has already hinted he could be allowed to leave this month.

City agreed a £60m deal for the 29-year-old in the summer but a deal collapsed after Arsenal failed to find a replacement in time and now Pep Guardiola’s side are hopeful of striking a transfer for less than half of that fee.

Finding Sanchez’s successor could again prove problematic in City’s attempts to prise the Chile international to the Etihad but United have entered the race and believe they can solve Arsenal’s problem.

United have reportedly tabled a bid in the region of £25m, which is more than City’s current £20m offer, and Jose Mourinho’s side would be willing to include Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the deal, although his £200,000-a-week wages could prove a huge obstacle.

Nevertheless, Mourinho is confident of beating Guardiola to Sanchez’s signature despite the fact the Arsenal No.7 has already played for the City head coach and agreed a £250,000-a-week deal with the current league leaders.  

Sanchez was surprisingly benched for the first leg of Arsenal’s League Cup semi-final encounter with Chelsea on Wednesday night, which only raised more question marks about his future at the club.

Despite failing to hit the heights of last season, Sanchez has played a direct hand in 10 goals in 19 Premier League games for the Gunners this term.