We can’t lose star striker, says Gunners midfielder
ARSENAL midfielder Granit Xhaka does not want to lose Alexis Sanchez this summer as City look to sign the forward.
Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich are both looking to land the Premier League star, who has not committed to Arsenal with just 12 months remaining on his current deal.
Sanchez said last week that his agent will sit down to sort the best deal for him, although the Blues will have to hope the player digs his heels in if he wants an Etihad switch, with Arsenal reportedly unwilling to sell to a rival.
Having seen up close how good the player is, midfielder Xhaka does not want to lose the Chilean despite admitting that he can play for any team he wants.
“I hope [he doesn’t leave], of course,” he said.
“He has qualities on the pitch which are incomprehensible. He has made many goals, and is also enormously important outside.
“Alexis can play with every world team – just like Mesut Ozil.
“I have been able to play with many great players, but these two stick out.”
Guardiola used his last press conference of the season to call for more goals from his team to support Sergio Aguero, and had praised Sanchez – who he worked with at Barcelona – on a number of occasions.
The 28-year-old enjoyed his most prolific season to date for the Gunners, netting 24 league goals in 38 appearances. CITY will try to fund half of their huge summer transfer spree with a planned £130m clear-out.
The Blues are prepared to spend up to £300m this summer to rebuild Pep Guardiola’s squad – and have already shelled out £78m to land Bernardo Silva and Ederson.
But with full-backs Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy also in their sights, as well as a centre-back – and possibly a big-name striker like Alexis Sanchez or Kylian Mbappe – the Blues are heading for the biggest spend in their history.
Last season they broke that particular record with a £169m splurge – with John Stones, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito and Claudio Bravo coming in.
With the only fee for outgoing players being the £25m they recouped for Stevan Jovetic (£12m), Edin Dzeko (£11m) and Seko Fofana (£2.3m), it was a big net spend for the Blues. This summer they are gearing up for a big sale, led by Joe Hart and Kelechi Iheanacho, for whom the Blues aim to get £25m each.
Hart said at the weekend that he felt the club would not block a move for him by slapping a high price tag on him.
But the Blues are determined to push the price as high as possible for the England international.
Iheanacho is already attracting strong interest from Everton, Leicester and West Ham, and with Crystal Palace said to be mulling over the prospect of joining the chase, his fee is on the up.
The club is planning to avoid the policy of loaning out star names who are surplus to requirements, and will instead try to shift them off the books. That means that the four former first-teamers who spent last season on loan are all available for a cut price. As well as Hart, Eliaquim Mangala (£18m) Samir Nasri (£10m) and Wilfried Bony (£10m) could all be shipped out. That means taking big financial hits on Mangala, who was a £42m flop loaned out to Valencia last season, and Bony, who cost £25m. The Blues plan to almost double the fee they paid for Fabian Delph by getting £15m, with Stoke and West Brom both interested. And they aim to make a small profit on Nolito, having already told interested Sevilla there will be no loan and the price is £15m. The Blues bought the Spain winger for just £13.8m last summer and, even though he failed to make a permanent break into the team, if they can recoup their money there is no harm done. And with Enes Unal already sold to Villarreal for £12.5m – despite never being involved in the City first-team squad – the Blues are off to a good start.