The first question to be asked is; do either of the two clubs really need him? And the short answer to this question is; no, they don’t, not really.
Sánchez is a goalscorer and creator of the highest order and would improve virtually any club for whom he played.
City, however, already have Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jésus scoring goals and, on the creative side, they have Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sané, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gündogan, Benjamin Mendy, David Silva, Bernardo Silva and Yaya Touré, so it is difficult to see where he would fit into the side.
It seems that Pep Guardiola is prepared to make a space for him though, and this would probably be at the expense of one of his midfielders. The only sure thing at present is that the player replaced would not be De Bruyne.
The other trait which Guardiola often displays, (and shares with Mourinho), is that he doesn’t appear to care what his players think when he picks the team. If he leaves a player out, which he must do on an almost perpetual basis then, as far as he is concerned, it is the player’s problem, not his.
So would Alexis Sánchez improve City as a team? Is it worth the potential unrest he may cause when not happy? Would he be happy not playing every week? Guardiola has already shown that it doesn’t matter what the name of a player is, he will drop him if he thinks it may benefit the team.
City are favourites to sign Sánchez and may make a move in January when he would probably cost £20-25 million. Also, because of the player’s reported desire to join City, they could wait until next summer and get him for nothing.
Most reports about the Arsenal player state that he would prefer to remain in England which should, hopefully, prevent a reported attempt by Real Madrid to buy him in January from succeeding.
So why would United want him? If the player has his heart set on a move to The Etihad, why risk being embarrassed by making an offer only to have it turned down?
Bayern Münich and Chelsea were both reportedly interested in him only to be put off by his huge wage demands as he tried to force a move to City. Why would it be any different with United?
Well, Sánchez cites a desire to play in the Champion’s League and win trophies as his main reasons for wanting to leave Arsenal. He justified the City interest by stating that he wanted to work with Guardiola again, having first played for him at Barcelona.
At this time there was no apparent interest, either reported or genuine, from United.
If this has now changed then there could very well be a decision for Sánchez.
At United he would also be playing in the Champion’s League and challenging for other trophies including the Premier League. He would be playing for a manager who has a history of winning the Premier League and has won the Champion’s League with three different clubs. He would be playing for a bigger club than City under a manager with more experience than Guardiola.
Turning down United may not be quite as easy, or as logical, as turning down Bayern or Chelsea.
At this stage of the proceedings we are inclined to think that interest from Old Trafford in Alexis Sánchez is pure speculation as United also don’t really need him. He would have just as much competition for a place with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and, possibly, a rejuvenated Zlatan Ibrahimović, as he would have at City.
The biggest challenge for either manager could very well be getting him to accept being a squad player and the favourite to take on that challenge is still Pep Guardiola.
Whatever happens, January promises to be an interesting transfer window in more ways than one.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 