Manchester City have taken to Pep Guardiola’s ideology swiftly since the Spaniard’s arrival, but acquiring one of their nearest rivals’ star players would send shockwaves around the Premier League.
The Express reports that City wants Alexis Sanchez and plan to bid for the Arsenal forward in January.
The former Barcelona star has less than two years left on his current deal and is reportedly demanding £200,000 a week to commit his future to the Emirates.
Given the speed at which City are developing under Guardiola, the Champions League might not prove beyond them even this season, which could accelerate plans to move for Alexis.
However, despite initially looking like a stop-gap solution for Arsenal’s striker problems, the Chilean continues to play in the unfamiliar position of centre forward for the Gunners this season and he seems to be growing into that role.
The Chile international has always been a versatile attacking player, capable of filling in on either flank or just off the main striker, but this is his first real run of games in the side as Arsenal’s main man in the middle.
While his early efforts in this area had Arsenal fans actually wishing for the return of Olivier Giroud to the squad, he’s now looking more and more like the real deal as a genuine goal threat after four goals in his last four games.
This has meant little action for another man Arsenal fans had pinned their hopes on – Lucas Perez. Signed near the end of the transfer window, the Spaniard looked something of a panic buy by Arsene Wenger, despite an excellent season for Deportivo La Coruna last year.
Perez was, of course, handed a start in Arsenal’s last league game against Southampton, but did little on his debut to show that he’s ready to immediately become the first choice. That, combined with Giroud becoming increasingly unpopular as a long-term solution to the club’s striker crisis (and out injured today, not to mention suspended for Arsenal’s next Champions League game), means Wenger has had to make a real go of this Sanchez experiment, but he’ll be pleased with the results so far.
After a quiet start in that role against Liverpool and Leicester City in the first two games – no goals and no shots on target in 180 minutes of football – Sanchez has upped his numbers in the vital areas in his last few outings.
Unsurprisingly, the former Barcelona man is now Arsenal’s top scorer for the season so far, and it’ll take something special from Giroud and Perez to dislodge him from that central striker spot if he carries on like this.