Manchester City chairman reveals why they failed to sign Alexis Sanchez

Manchester City were frontrunners to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal last summer. However, after an extensive spell of flirtation, City failed to sign the Chilean international. Subsequently, in the summer, Manchester United entered the fray and hijacked the deal and signed Alexis Sanchez.

Now, the real reason behind Manchester City failing to sign Alexis Sanchez has been revealed by Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

The reigning Premier League champions were put off by the asking price of £40 million and Alexis Sanchez's exorbitant wage demands which stood at £505,000 a week.

"We identified him as a player that would have been a good fit for this club.

"Pep was very keen to have him join. But it didn't happen. Not for the wrong reasons. There aren't any regrets.

"There are reasons why that deal ultimately did fall through and it was out of our hands. We did everything we could."

Sanchez joined Manchester United in January while Henrikh Mkhitaryan went the other way. The City chairman still believes that the deal did not make sense for them financially and that's why the chose to stop the pursuit.

"We looked at it again in January —but the situation had changed for us compared to how we looked at it in the summer.

"The reality is that the economics simply didn't work for us any more."

The Sanchez saga wasn't the only setback that Manchester City had to endure over the winter. They were also heavily linked with Virgin Van Dijk who is now a Liverpool player. Liverpool broke the world record for the price paid for a defender.

Khaldoon said,

"If it makes sense for us, we'll do it. If it doesn't make sense, we are perfectly comfortable walking away."