LONDON, United Kingdom, Jan 16 – Chelsea are the latest club to join the race to sign want-away Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez, according to reports.
Sky Sports wrote that Blues coach Antonio Conte is a long-time admirer of the 29-year old forward and that the Stamford Bridge club could be on the verge of one of their famous transfer hijacks.
The news comes after Manchester City, where most pundits had expected the player to end up, pulled out of the race for the player apparently because the deal had become too expensive over the player’s wage demands.
That leaves Manchester United and now Chelsea as the main contenders for the Chilean’s signature, with United indicating they are willing to fork out Arsenal’s Sh4.9bn (£35mn) asking price.
Speaking after United’s 3-0 win over Stoke on Monday, Jose Mourinho said: “There is no news on Sanchez. He is an Arsenal player; if he stays it’s great for Arsenal, if he comes to us, great for us, if he goes to another club, great for them.”
United are thought to still be favourites as Arsene Wenger is apparently willing to take United’s unsettled Armenian international midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan in exchange.