Alexis Sanchez, a transfer that never was and how both Arsenal and Manchester City somehow managed to lose

City have failed to land their top target while Arsenal have kept their best player, but that no longer seems like the best possible outcome it once did

Alexis Sanchez saw his dream move to Manchester City never materialise (Getty)

In carefully working to make sure all was going to be in order over the past few weeks, Manchester City took every precaution in order to sign Alexis Sanchez - except, it seems, the most important precaution of all: making sure there was enough time for the now-failed £60m deal for the Chilean to be satisfactorily completed.

That, at least, is the view from those close to Arsenal and the situation as a whole, since the transfer ultimately fell down because Arsene Wenger could not bring in the replacement he required to sanction the deal. One figure described City as generally behaving with “baffling arrogance” in that some of their hierarchy first presumed they could potentially get him for as little as £30m, and then taking so much time to put in a second bid this week.

It is certainly hard not to wonder why they left the entire push for the player so late.

Some close to the Etihad meanwhile maintain that was a necessary strategy amid the delicacy of the situation and that Arsenal should have had a replacement player in place, given how negotiations had previously proceeded. There is also a belief from some around City that this is all a face-saving measure because Monaco’s Thomas Lemar was unwilling to go to the Emirates because they are not in the Champions League.

Those are the two sides of the story. Whatever the actual truth, one thing is undeniable: both clubs have someway lost in this whole unsatisfactory saga.

City have failed to land their top target, the forward that was supposed to complete - and enhance - all their business, and who they prioritised at the expense of other important positions like central midfield that were left for later windows. It does put a significant pall on what had otherwise been a positive window, and has created a mood of disgruntlement as the window closed.

Arsenal have meanwhile kept their best player… but that no longer seems like the best possible outcome from this window like it would have done in May.

Guardiola was desperate to get Sanchez (Getty)

For one, it’s not like they stood strong against City. Their initially “unmoving” position was clearly negotiable, and the principles of a deal to sell Sanchez were in place. They would say they never wanted to sell him in the first place, but that is a pyrrhic victory.

Sanchez “desperately” wants to go and had been telling Chilean international teammates how much he was looking forward to the move, according to sources from the South American champions. He is now said to be somewhere between “crestfallen” and “livid”. Whatever about the consequences of that in terms of his short-term commitment and the fact he can negotiate his exit anew in January - and that for free - there is also a wider, longer-term concern for Wenger.

This stale Arsenal squad badly needs an overhaul, but they have been denied one means to do that. Letting a want-away player go for such money would have allowed that, while also allowing the purchase of a high-quality player who actually wants to be there, who would himself have brought the enthusiasm for a new project of that very stance. Arsenal could really have done with that kind of freshness.

Sanchez was desperate to leave Arsenal in this window (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

There are also the troubling murmurs of the mood from the squad itself towards Sanchez, and how many of them would have preferred he left.

If it is a victory, but at the potential expense of squad harmony, and the chance to rejuvenate that team. The flipside of all this is that everyone who knows Sanchez maintains that, as unhappy as he may be now, he himself is rejuvenated as soon as a ball is put in front of him. Then he’ll forget everything and just play.

It’s just going to be difficult for both clubs to forget this. The saga has finally ended, but with a conclusion no one will be completely content with.