City dash to Chile to lure £70m Sanchez
MANCHESTER CITY believe they will capture Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez today. Club representatives are in Santiago ahead of Chile’s World Cup qualifier against Paraguay tonight in readiness to rush through a deadline-day deal. Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger is willing to sell the Chilean, but has rejected an opening bid of £50million. City, who held talks with Arsenal yesterday, are likely to have to pay closer to £70m. Raheem Sterling was originally considered to be part of the deal in exchange for Sanchez, but City must now pay cash only. City are still also hopeful of sealing a deal for West Brom defender Jonny Evans, 29, but need their France defender Eliaquim Mangala, 26, to agree to a loan switch to the Hawthorns to push the move through. Evans is currently in Manchester with the Northern Ireland party, who fly to San Marino this morning for tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier. But that would not stop him having a City medical ahead of a deal.
A YEAR ago he joined Bayern Munich for £30million, now Renato Sanches is set to join Swansea City on loan. So what went wrong at Bayern and what can Swansea expect?
anyone who watched Sanches at Euro 2016 will be aware of his talent. at the tender age of 18, his energy and drive were a key part of Portugal’s triumph. a stocky central midfielder, Sanches’s doggedness in defence and vibrancy in attack attracted interest from Europe’s biggest clubs. at Bayern, though, his raw ability has not outweighed his poor positioning and decision-making. He has looked inexperienced. Why are Bayern letting him go? The sheer quality of their midfield, coupled with Carlo ancelotti’s preference for experienced players, meant he was always going to struggle to overtake the likes of arturo Vidal, Xabi alonso and Thiago alcantara in Bayern’s first team last season. He played just 615 minutes in the league and failed to make a significant impact in any of them. alonso has retired, but summer arrivals James Rodriguez and Corentin Tolisso, for a club record £35m, made it unlikely that Sanches would have any more luck this time around. How have Swansea managed to sign one of Europe’s hottest young talents? Manager Paul Clement worked with ancelotti at Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-germain and Bayern, and that close relationship seemed to be decisive. Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also made it clear last month that he favoured a loan deal, which ruled out some major clubs who were hoping to get Sanches on the cheap. If he blossoms in South Wales, Bayern can bring him back — or off-load him for big money. Who else wanted him? Jose Mourinho wanted to take him to Manchester united last year and united, PSg, Liverpool, Chelsea and aC Milan were heavily linked with Sanches this summer. Milan’s interest was the most concrete but they failed to match Bayern’s valuation.