Pep Guardiola has rubbished reports he made contact with Alexis Sanchez on Saturday night labelling a Chilean journalist a liar for peddling suggestions that Manchester City are trying to sign the Arsenal striker.
El Mercurio claim that after seeing Sanchez net a hat-trick against West Ham United (watch it again here), Guardiola, who worked with the attacker at Barcelona, immediately called the player to persuade him to quit the Emirates for the Etihad rather than sign a contract extension in London.
The report even went so far as to suggest it wasn’t the first time Guardiola had booty called Arsene Wenger’s star man.
Speaking to journalists ahead of his side’s Champions League game with Celtic, Guardiola responded emphatically to the rumours stating: “False. The journalist is a liar. Sanchez would fit into any side in the world.”
PEP: (on Sanchez rumours) False. The journalist is a liar. Sanchez would fit into any side in the world. #mcfc
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 5, 2016
No doubt, Wenger will be asked about the same story when he faces the press this afternoon. The onus is obviously on Arsenal to plough on with negotiations as they look to nail down Sanchez to a new long-term, big-money deal.
The Chile striker will be out of contract at the end of next season.
What do you reckon are the odds on him signing a new contract blogs?
I had a nightmare that we fucked it up somehow.
Can’t understand why the fuck we have allowed both Alexis and Ozil to enter the last two years of their contracts. It’s like we (by we I mean they) never learn.
There are no more Alexis’ in the world it is stupid to think that a replacement would cost £90m. There is no replacement, who the hell is better than Alexis (bar Messi and Ronald McDonald)?
If the club ever want to compete at the very top or atleast aspire to, then the club must act as such and make sure both Alexis and Mesut sign long term deals. I’ve read a while ago that Arsene does not believe that a player should earn more than the manager. That’s fucked up. I really hope thats not the sticking point in the negotiations. Worst case is the club drag these negotiations over till the summer and then they would have to sell on. I think 200-220k per week would be sufficient with all the TV money coming… Read more »
Lol! “I don’t believe a player should earn more than the manager” doesn’t sound very Wenger-esque IMHO. Where did you read that?
Also in reply to Bob: It’s pretty simple. If you approach a player with 3 or 4 years left on their contract, they just might say it’s too early. Especially if the player has strong belief in his abilities and is sure he will get better during the next couple of years.
Didn’t Mesut say this very thing last year?
I cant find the original as that was years ago but this article below make a reference to it. (reading this now made me remember the quote)
Ozil is already the highest paid player at the club on £140,000-a-week, £10,000 more than Sanchez. Arsene Wenger had previously been adamant that no individual should earn more than the manager and his £8million per season wage equates to £160,000-a-week.
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/alexis-sanchez-and-mesut-ozil-want-parity-with-paul-pogba-and-league-s-top-earners-but-arsenal-a3412211.html
For the amount of hamburgers he must eat, Ronald McDonald is in remarkably good shape. One would imagine a more Wayne Rooney or Luke Shaw-like appearance.
Los Bollocks?
Los Bollocks Hermanos?
Alexis is super-excellent and there are no new superlatives to cover him. If his agent is instigating these rumours to enhance contract bargaining position, let him give it a rest. Its super not-necessary.
I super-agree.
Not sure i believe Guardiola any more than i believe random journalists to be honest.
Guy is a shitehawk.
I think Walcott is better than Alexis….this is also bollocks.
“False. The journalist is a liar.”
Fine. We’re cool.
“Sanchez would fit into any side in the world.”
What’s this in reference to? Fuck off, Pep.
Which then means it is true, they are interested..
Strange story. Why the fuck would sanchez want to go to city.
Why have our players pulled out of the arse in the past?
* I hope Alexis, Mesut and Arsene all stay.
Sign da ting. Win da ting. Let’s go.
Oh. Get it now duh!.
The bald fart is getting a taste of the Premier League!
He thought it would be an easy ride for him like with Barcelona and Bayern.. Didn’t he?
Let the Guardiola ‘False’ aura be put to rest!
Could be true but why would a journo know the conversation took place?
Imaginary tapping of an imagined tap-up
More Bollocks
Why is it that Journalists get away with so many lies? Any other profession, you would get sacked. But it seems these mugs get promoted for spreading lies and rumours.
You need to feel hell with something other than Chelsea fans…
*fill
Journalism is the second-oldest profession bend prostitution. They get paid to suck.
May be absolute bollocks, but it’d feel a helluva lot more better if he showed his commitment by signing a new deal! Put this shite to rest.
*better…not more better!
Man. Im not gonna mate with yaya toure’s dog
Not to worries guys, I am from Chile and all we chileans knows that this newspaper “El Mercurio” lies (not always, but almost…this time for sure). It is like UK non-ethical newspapers such as “Daily Mail” or the “The Sun” (please be nice with the rest of the world and don’t read these 😉 ). Btw, I like this blog and I love to support Arsenal. Cheers!
Going to have to pay them both what they demand. Otherwise scum suckers like the sheikhs will be rolling out the cash.
…of course.
I love watching Alexis play as I did RVP in the day. I can accept, to a point, we might not be able to retain Alexis for various reasons. What I will not accept is Arsenal selling him to any Premier League rival. I will be sad if he leaves for Juve or Bayern etc. If we keep him until the end of his contract and he signs for a rival than he is a dick. If we sell him to a rival there will be rightful outrage at the club from the fans.
Well, who wouldnt be interested in Alexis? Im sure most top clubs and managers would be delighted to have him. We know it, they know it, Alexis knows it but more importantly Alexis Agent knows it.
With the contract situation being what it is, his Agent will ofcourse be putting out feelers towards other clubs to see what kind of deal they might be able to land there and at the same time strenghtening his hand for the negotiation table with Arsenal.
And this is also the reason why I mentioned that we do NOT have unlimited resource and would have to be careful with our spend. We spent in excess of 90m mark. How much we paid for Mustafi would impact how much we could spend on the striker. Remember once Gabriel got knock, defender (rightly) became priority. Look at United, feet of clay. Doesn’t matter if you spent close to 90m on one player alone Pogba, then Zlatan and Mykhitaryan. They’re rubbish at the back. If you listen to the facile press, they would brand this sort of wanton spending… Read more »
Sanchez will know Rooney is on 300k a week and we all know city will at least match it.
Hopefully the possibility of competing against Aguero will help put him off the idea. Even though I think he is better.
I don’t know about “better” (though I could agree to some arguments) but definitely less injury-prone.
Yet! (touchwood)
He’s not going to be competing with Aguero this month, because Aguero got himself a four-match ban on the weekend for being a stupid cunt.
Funny how these rumours circulate when players negotiate their new contracts. Even Bellerin was apparently on his way to city a few months ago haha.
Just agents tactics to earn more of a bonus on his new gunners contract.
If he doesnt sign, then we in serious trouble.
Imagine if Alexis had stayed at Barca and played as CF between Neymar and Messi. Suarez is good, but I think Alexis would have been better. Gotta wonder what Barca management was thinking.
Alexis doesn’t hold all the cards here.
He’ll be 29 and a half if we make him see out his contract.
Ozil will be almost 30.
Whilst I’m sure there will be clubs willing to offer a lot at that point, particularly on a free.
There’s still a chance of injury.
Clubs may also be less inclined to commit so much on a player who’s played so much football.
We can offer him a 5yr deal now, on say £250k p/w
Offering him that in a season when he turns 30 would be insane.
You get the feeling arsene Wenger would come to try and buy your house for 30% less than what it’s worth and be like ‘it is a good price though, you still make money.’ that’s not really the point Arsene, the market dictates the price, and when you are talking about two of some the best players in world football currently, in their prime, you pay big or accept you are a smaller club than the flashy stadium would have us believe. Of course with agents – the swamp monsters of football – you have to play the game, right?… Read more »
He also did not see Cesc after the Chelsea match and he says that in front of a room full of journalists with a straight face…
I knew he was a very good actor going by Barca’s on field theatrics, but up close he looks more like a sly piece of piss sucking ant, would believe anything he says.
sorry, meant ‘Not believe’ not ‘believe’