The summer transfer window has opened, with Arsenal already hard at work on new targets for their Premier League-winning squad
Arsenal once had a £92million deadline-day transfer fall apart at the final minute, preventing Alexis Sanchez from joining Manchester City.
The summer transfer window has officially opened in England and the Gunners will already be planning some new arrivals. Mikel Arteta will be keen to boost his squad from a position of strength following their Premier League triumph.
The Arsenal boss will hope to avoid any transfer sagas like the one nine years ago that left Sanchez watching on as his City dream slipped away. The Chilean striker had spent three seasons in north London and was of interest to Pep Guardiola in Manchester.
Despite repeated attempts to retain the attacker, Arsenal reneged and tentatively agreed to a sale – but only if they brought in a replacement star. Monaco’s Thomas Lemar was the target and the Gunners coughed up the £92m asking price for the versatile star.
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City then put in a £55m bid for Sanchez, which included £5m in add-ons, and Arsenal were prepared to allow Sanchez to depart. However, Lemar starred for France in a 4-0 win over the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier, which prevented the north London outfit from completing the deal.
The Guardian reported at the time that Arsenal said they ran out of time to complete the big-money move, including Lemar’s medical. This deadline-day failure put a stop to Sanchez’s move to City, with Guardiola’s side believing that the Monaco attacker had simply rejected a move to the Gunners.
Arsene Wenger, who was still managing Arsenal in 2017, had offered the Chile international a new deal that would boost his wages to £300,000 weekly – but Sanchez still said no.
Months later, the attacker would head to Manchester United in a straight swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Sanchez bagged himself a staggering deal that, with bonuses, could reach up to £560,000-a-week during his two-and-a-half-year spell at the club.
Despite earning a whopping £35m in wages while at United, Sanchez was a disappointment at Old Trafford. He scored five goals in 45 appearances, assisting nine times and being shipped out on loan to Inter Milan just over a year after joining United.
Meanwhile, Lemar joined Atletico Madrid a year after his transfer saga with Arsenal and is still there to this day. Mkhitaryan was an average signing, but times could’ve been a lot harder had the Gunners dropped almost £100m on the France international.
Across eight years with the La Liga giants, Lemar has managed just 10 goals and 19 assists in 186 appearances. Atleti spent £63m on his signing, which has largely disappointed given the number of appearances compared to goals.
He has recently returned from a season-long loan spell at Girona, scoring three goals and assisting twice for the La Liga side. Arteta will be averse to creating any drama during this transfer window as he aims to go one further in Europe next season and also retain the coveted Premier League trophy.
