Arsenal news: Pep Guardiola open to have Alexis Sanchez join Manchester City - 7M sport

Arsenal news: Pep Guardiola open to have Alexis Sanchez join Manchester City

PEP GUARDIOLA has left the door open for a renewed move for Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez either in January or next summer.


Posted Saturday, November 04, 2017 by Express.co.uk

Arsenal news: Pep Guardiola open to have Alexis Sanchez join Manchester City
Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez has been linked with a move to Manchester City

Guardiola had a £60million bid for the Chile striker rejected on deadline day of the summer’s transfer window.

And with Sanchez becoming a free agent at the end of the season – he's rebuffed the offer of a new lucrative contract – the odds are still heavily stacked towards him ending up at the Etihad.

Guardiola said: "He's an Arsenal player so his manager has to speak. We know the situation. The transfer window was open and now it's closed.

"He's an Arsenal player and so important for them. The talent he has and we have to try to control him on Sunday.

"The strikers we have already we are going to stay next season. Maybe we will add - we are going to decide. Next season we have to shape the team again.

"Last season there was a lot of changes because the average age was 28 or 29. Now we are a young team. But we'll buy players, we'll try to analyse and buy the right players."

Guardiola rejected Arsenal’s attempt to take Raheem Sterling in a possible exchange deal for Sanchez and is delighted that the England winger has responded to the vote of confidence from his manager over his City future by improving his scoring record this season.

Sterling has emerged, surprisingly, as Manchester City’s top scorer so far with 10 in all competitions, one more than Sergio Aguero. And most of his goals have come from close range.

Guardiola says the former Liverpool star is now confident in front of goal and “enjoying” scoring goals but insists there is still improvement to come with his final pass

"It's true that in front of goal it's improving rather than the last pass,” he said. “I think he's enjoying  scoring goals, he's not scared, he’s not afraid to take a risk. And now he’s seeing how much fun, how good, it is to score goals.

"Now he’s more focussed on that. Mikel Arteta [City’s first team coach] is working many, many hours and days after training specifically about the last action on the pitch – that control in the last moment to make the right movement in the final three or four metres.

"Raheem has wanted to stay after training, to improve, to practise, to shoot at the goalkeepers. It’s part of the mentality he needs.

"He knows a striker-winger has to score goals and he has to do that if he wants to achieve the next step.

“You won't survive in the high-level teams in his position if you don’t score goals. Now the confidence is there and the club has new players coming in who can score goals.

"All the strikers and wingers have scored goals, it’s not just Gabriel Jesus, it’s not just Sergio Aguero and that is important for us. I think it's mainly because he's decided, ‘I want to score goals, I can do that and I’m enjoying that’

"His final pass still has to improve – he has to do it better, he has got better but he can still do better.

"It’s about having more patience to analyse what is that small gap - and it’s a small gap in the position he is in. In the middle you have more space, the goalkeeper, central defenders, full-backs, holding midfielders are there.

"Sometimes it’s not possible but the big, big players decide well in those moments but we can’t forget he’s 22 years old. We demand a lot with those kind of players.

"But he is curious and he will improve definitely because he's young and he has time and we are there to help him."



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