Soccer

Alexis Sánchez ‘clear’ on where he will be playing next season

Manchester City reportedly confident of signing Chile forward from Arsenal

Alexis Sánchez says he has made up his mind about where he will play next season. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP

David Hytner
Fri Jun 30 2017 - 14:02

Alexis Sánchez says he has made up his mind about where he will play next season and he could not say whether it would still be at Arsenal.

The Chile forward has one year to run on his contract and has given no indication he is ready to sign another one, despite Arsenal’s desperation to tie him down.

Manchester City lead the posse of elite-level clubs who want Sánchez and they are confident of getting him for a fee in the region of £50m. City believe they have the means to comfortably out-pay Arsenal in terms of a salary package for Sánchez.

The 28-year-old is on Confederations Cup duty with Chile – his country will contest the final against Germany on Sunday – and he was presented for interview on Friday alongside his international team-mate Claudio Bravo, who plays at City.

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Sánchez was asked whether he would be a club-mate of Bravo’s next season. “Good question,” he replied. “Right now, I am focused on the Confederations Cup. When this is finished, I will see if I stay or if I go. I don’t know.” He added: “It’s clear [IN MY MIND]but I can’t tell you anything.”

Sánchez was later asked by Sky Sports about the chances of him staying at Arsenal. “I don’t know my friend, I don’t know,” he said.

The nightmare scenario for Arsenal would be to lose Sánchez, their leading scorer and undoubted star, to a Premier League rival but the City manager, Pep Guardiola, has some pull in this case. He brought Sánchez from Udinese to Barcelona in the summer of 2011 and worked with him there for one season.

(Guardian service)

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