Arsenal once witnessed a £92million deadline-day transfer fall through at the final moment, preventing Alexis Sanchez from completing a switch to Manchester City. The summer window has officially begun in England, and the Gunners will already be planning some new additions. Mikel Arteta is keen to bolster his squad from a position of strength after their Premier League triumph. He will be hoping to avoid any transfer dramas like the one nine years ago, which saw Sanchez's dreams crumble.
The £92m Deal That Never Was
The forward had finished three campaigns in north London and had attracted the attention of Pep Guardiola in Manchester. Despite prolonged attempts to retain the forward, Arsenal gave in and tentatively agreed to a sale - but only if they landed a replacement star. Monaco winger Thomas Lemar was the target, and the Gunners met the £92m valuation for the versatile star. City then lodged a £55m offer for Sanchez, which included £5m in add-ons, and Arsenal were prepared to sanction Sanchez's departure.
However, Lemar turned out for France in a 4-0 triumph over the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier, which prevented the north London outfit from completing the deal. It was reported at the time that Arsenal claimed they ran out of time to finalise the big-money move, including Lemar's medical. This last-minute collapse scuppered Sanchez's proposed move to City, with Guardiola's side firmly believing that the Monaco attacker had simply snubbed a transfer to the Gunners.
Sanchez's Contract and Departure
Arsene Wenger, who was still at the Arsenal helm in 2017, had put forward a revised contract for the Chile international that would have boosted his earnings to £300,000 per week - yet Sanchez still turned his back on the offer. Months later, the forward would arrive at Manchester United in a straight swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Sanchez secured himself a staggering package that, including bonuses, could have soared as high as £560,000-a-week throughout his two-and-a-half-year spell at the club. Despite pocketing an eye-watering £35m in wages during his time at United, Sanchez was incredibly disappointing. He managed just five goals in 45 outings, contributing nine assists before being offloaded on loan to Inter Milan barely a year after his arrival.
Lemar's Career Since
Lemar, meanwhile, joined Atletico Madrid a year after his drawn-out transfer saga with Arsenal and remains there to this day. Mkhitaryan proved a fairly unremarkable signing, though matters could have been considerably worse had the Gunners splashed nearly £100m on the French international. Across eight years with the La Liga giants, Lemar has mustered just 10 goals and 19 assists in 186 appearances. Atletico paid out £63m for his signature, a deal that has largely disappointed given his modest output relative to his number of appearances. Having recently returned from a season-long loan spell at Girona, where he scored three goals and contributed two assists for the La Liga club, Arteta will be keen to avoid creating any upheaval during this transfer window as he targets going one step further in Europe next season and also holding onto the coveted Premier League trophy.
