Arsenal won't sell Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City until replacement is signed

Arsene Wenger confirmed this morning that Arsenal will not sell Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City until they have signed a replacement.

That was the situation at the end of the transfer window, when Arsenal pulled the plug on selling Sanchez to City for £60m because they could not complete a deal with Monaco to sign Thomas Lemar to replace him.

This transfer window the story is the same: there is money on the table from City, Sanchez is desperate to go there, but Wenger will not give the move the green light until a replacement comes in.

Speaking at his press conference at London Colney this morning, Wenger said “it is the case now” when asked whether he would need a replacement before selling Sanchez. “You sum it up very well,” he confirmed again.

Wenger knows that they cannot directly replace Sanchez, but there are players he wants who can help out. “Replaceable in the way that we find exactly the same player, certainly not,” Wenger said. “But there’s always a way to find a different balance. Alexis is an exceptional football player, he’s a world class player. And if that happens we have to find a different balance in the team.”

Wenger did not want to go into too much detail about negotiations with City and Manchester United for Sanchez but he did not deny that talks are ongoing.

“Honestly I cannot tell you much more at the moment about this situation,” Wenger said. “Nothing is really concrete at the moment. I don’t want to give you wrong information. At the moment I must say nothing is decided one way or the other.”