Arsenal Boss Confirms Sanchez/Mkhitaryan Deal With Man Utd ‘Likely’ To Happen Soon

The January transfer window is now open so clubs are working hard trying to strengthen their squads for the second half of the season and put deals in place for the summer. Today, the latest on the Sanchez/Mkhitaryan swap deal…

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed the Alexis Sanchez/Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap deal with Manchester United is ‘likely’ to happen by the end of the week.

United emerged as red-hot favourites to sign Sanchez earlier this month after blowing rivals Manchester City out of the water with a bumper contract offer.

The Red Devils also put the more favourable deal on the table for Arsenal after accepting Wenger’s demand to include out-of-favour playmaker Mkhitaryan in exchange for Sanchez’s signature.

The Telegraph claimed yesterday that Sanchez has now agreed personal terms with United over a four-and-a-half-year deal worth a staggering £14m-per-season AFTER tax.

The main stumbling block is Mkhitaryan agreeing terms with Arsenal but Wenger insists wages will not be a problem and is confident the Armenian international wants to play for Arsenal.

The Gunners boss claims the proposed swap deal is now at the final stage and is ‘likely’ to happen soon but if it’s not wrapped-up by the end of the week then Wenger says Sanchez will play for Arsenal on Saturday.

Speaking at his press conference ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Crystal Palace, Wenger told reporters [via the Metro]:

‘That is a story well documented in the media, so I don’t have a lot to add to that. Can happen, can as well not happen. It’s at that stage. If it doesn’t happen he will play on Saturday [against Crystal Palace].

‘It is likely to happen [in the next 24 hours], but any moment, any minutes things break down, that’s how the transfer market is. I’ve worked on transfers for 30 years. So as long as it’s not over the line, we have to accept it can’t happen. These things are never guaranteed.’

"As long as it is not over the line you have to accept it could not happen…" Mkhitaryan – "My understanding, yes. If it is a possibility it is because I like the player. We played many times against him at Dortmund and he appreciated the quality of our game and the way we play.

— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) January 18, 2018

"The wages (for Mkhitaryan) would not be a problem. This would be an exchange of players and I think one would replace the other. Are we still in the transfer market after that, yes…" Malcom – "I don't think we are close to doing that." #AFC

— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) January 18, 2018

Judging by how open Wenger was at his conference this morning I’d guess this swap deal must be extremely close to completion. We’ve been led to believe in the media that Mkhitaryan’s wage demands have been holding up the deal but Wenger says they aren’t an issue so it must just be the final details left to resolve.

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I think all parties involved with thrash out the deal today and we’ll have an announcement on Friday but it remains to be seen whether the deal will be done in time for the two players to play for their new clubs this weekend.