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Alexis Sanchez: How Manchester United transfer chase for Arsenal star has unfolded
ALEXIS SANCHEZ is on the verge of leaving Arsenal for Manchester United - but how has the saga played out?
Balague: Not just Chelsea challenging United for Sanchez
Alexis Sanchez has become a contract rebel at Arsenal and will almost certainly leave in this transfer window.
Manchester United are ready to sign him and hand the Chilean a £350,000-a-week contract.
That was after Manchester City and Chelsea considered moves for the 29-year-old.
Arsenal seem resigned to losing their star man after he refused to sign a new contract.
And the transfer debacle currently unfolding at the Emirates Stadium has been a long-time coming.
Here Express Sport looks at the Alexis Sanchez transfer saga… and how Arsenal failed to prevent it from happening.
Check out our Alexis Sanchez timeline below…
Alexis Sanchez has been tipped to leave Arsenal since last summer
Alexis Sanchez transfer timeline
2014
July 10: Alexis Sanchez joins Arsenal from Barcelona for £35m, signing a four-year contract. He says: "I'm so happy to be joining a club which has a great manager, a fantastic squad of players and huge support around the world.
"I'm looking forward to playing in the Premier League and Champions League."
2015
November 19: Arsenal prepare to offer Sanchez a new £155,000-a-week contract that will keep him at the club until 2021. The offer is never formally tabled.
2016
December 16: Sanchez, now in the last 18 moths of his contract, is offered a new £200,000-a-week deal to stay at Arsenal.
But reports claim the offer is £80,000 a week short of his demands.
Arsenal also start sweating over Mesut Ozil's future.
Theo Walcott holds an Alexis Sanchez shirt on the day the Chilean signs for Arsenal
2017
January 10: Sanchez is said to be ‘stalling’ on a new contract. Arsene Wenger insists a verbal agreement is in place for both the Chilean and Ozil.
“They tell me they want to stay,” Wenger tells BeIN Sports. “Alexis is a committed player and I am certain (we will reach an agreement).”
March 23: Arsenal suspend contract talks with Ozil and Sanchez until the end of the season. The Gunners warn the duo they won’t cabe into salary demands that break their wage structure.
April 25: Sanchez is now demanding £300,000 a week to stay at Arsenal - more than double his current £130,000 a week salary.
Wenger says: “I personally think he will sign and stay here. He is happy here. His desire is as well to stay. That is what I deeply believe.”
May 7: Sanchez himself opens up on the contract talks as Chelsea, Manchester City and Bayern Munich emerge as suitors.
“What I want to do now is to finish the season well, try to qualify for the Champions League, win the FA Cup and then I’ll sit down with the club to decide what I’m going to do," he says. Arsenal win the FA Cup but finish fifth in the Premier League.
Concerns over Alexis Sanchez's contract were first raised in the 2014/15 season
July 1: The transfer window is open! Bayern Munich are interested in Alexis Sanchez but Manchester City are the frontrunners.
Arsenal, meanwhile, start considering a replacement for the 29-year-old. Thomas Lemar is eventually earmarked.
August 10: Manchester City ramp up their interest in Sanchez, with Arsenal now ready to lose their star man so long as Lemar joins from Monaco. The waiting game begins.
August 31: DEADLINE DAY… and it’s a complete farce. Arsenal accept a £60m bid from City for Sanchez but will only let the deal go through if Lemar joins. Monaco accept Arsenal’s £92m offer for their winger. It’s all down to Lemar, who is due to play for France that night. The player decides against a last-minute move while in the French dressing room. Arsenal’s French contingent supposedly try to convince him to change his mind. It doesn’t work. Lemar stays. Sanchez stays.
September-December: Any hopes of Sanchez signing a new deal have ended. He cuts a frustrated figure in north London as Arsenal labour in the Premier League. City are all set to sign him.
Manchester United entered the race to sign Alexis Sanchez this month
2018
January 1: The transfer window opens and City are ready with a £20m bid for Sanchez. But Arsenal want £35m. Can a compromise be reached?
January 4: The first rumblings of Manchester United’s interest in Sanchez start.
January 12: Manchester United make £25m bid for Sanchez. Arsenal are listening as Gunners fans fume.
January 13: Henrikh Mkhitaryan emerges as a possible pawn in the deal, with United willing to swap him for Sanchez.
Antonio Conte: I don’t know if Chelsea want to sign Sanchez
January 14: Manchester City withdraw their interest in Sanchez as they are not prepared to pay more than £20m for Pep Guardiola’s former playmaker.
January 15: Chelsea emerge as shock suitors of Sanchez but their interest died within 24 hours as United push on with a deal that is ’75 per cent complete’.
January 16: Jose Mourinho says he is “not confident, but also not unconfident” of signing Sanchez.
January 17: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looks set to replace Sanchez at Arsenal, with Bild claiming Dortmund will sign Michy Batshuayi as a replacement for their star man.
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