Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis reportedly told Manchester City’s CEO Ferran Soriano that the Gunners had agreed a deal for Alexis Sanchez’s replacement.

Soriano and Gazidis had been in contact throughout the summer about the availability of Alexis Sanchez, according to the Times.

However, most of the contact had involved Soriano reaching out to Gazidis and the Arsenal chief executive responding that there would be no negotiations as the Chilean wasn’t available.

Everything changed on the last day, as Arsenal had managed to agree a £92m fee with Monaco for their 21-year-old midfielder, and therefore decided the 28-year-old was free to go. Ivan Gazidis told Manchester City as much, but Lemar ended up agreeing with Monaco chiefs to turn Arsenal down.

While City believed that the French international’s deal was in the final stages, really Arsenal weren’t being truthful of the player agreeing to join the Gunners. In the end, this resulted in Arsenal hanging onto Alexis Sanchez instead.

The missed opportunity frustrated City, who finally had a bid accepted for Alexis but weren’t aware his replacement wasn’t close to joining Arsenal. For the Gunners, it was a bit of a disappointing end.

Arsenal fans didn’t want to lose Alexis back in June, but after he showed so little desire to stay in North London, an exciting young replacement on a long deal started to seem more appealing.

Supporters will have to wait and hope the same deal can be done in the future.