Arsenal are prepared to swap star forward Alexis Sanchez for PSG attacker Julian Draxler in a remarkable January transfer. Sanchez is out of contract next summer and has indicated that he is not interested in signing a a new deal with the Gunners.
The Gunners talisman wanted to move to Manchester City this summer, but a deadline day £60m transfer fell through when Arsenal were unable to sign Monaco’s Thomas Lemar as a replacement.
Now, according to the Daily Star, Arsenal are looking at a new transfer in order to get value from any Sanchez deal, rather than losing him on a free next summer.
Arsene Wenger would prefer Sanchez to move abroad rather than to a Premier League rival, and is a long-standing admirer of Draxler.
The 24-year-old Germany international joined PSG last January but has fallen out of favour due to the signings of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, as well as the form of Edinson Cavani.
However he has known quality and would be a similar replacement for Sanchez, who is yet to score this season for Arsenal.
Arsenal are in a similar situation with Mesut Özil, who is also out of contract at the end of the season. Like Alexis, Ozil has been linked with a January swap deal, in his case to Inter Milan.
The complication for Arsenal is that Sanchez, and Ozil, will be free to talk to any foreign club about a move in January, without having to go through the Gunners. So why would they want to be involved in a swap deal when they can control where they want to go?
Arsenal want to move them back to Europe as they don’t want to strengthen a rival, but the rumors persist that Sanchez and Ozil will both end up in Manchester next season. With Alexis as Manchester City and Ozil at Manchester United. And it is becoming increasingly clear that Arsenal can do nothing to stop that from happening.