Manchester City don’t want to sign Alexis Sanchez in January, as they prefer to wait to pick up the Chilean on a free in the summer, according to reports.

The Mirror claim that City are still angry at the way Alexis’ deadline day move to Manchester ended up breaking down, and as a result they don’t want to give Arsenal any compensation for what they see as the 28-year-old’s inevitable move to the Etihad.

They plan to wait until the summer, when they can sign Alexis for free. The downside of this plan is that they can’t conduct any negotiations with Sanchez until then [like that stopped them before – ed]. Any formal or informal agreement between the two before May would be a breach of the Premier League regulations.

Therefore, City will have to sit and watch as any number of foreign clubs negotiate with Alexis in January, and Arsenal can continue to try and change his mind for the next seven months. Plus, it allows the Gunners another six months to scout and identify the Chilean’s replacement, assuming he does end up leaving.

Rather than being the body blow to Arsenal that the Mirror seem to be portraying this decision as, it honestly seems like a decent outcome.

Either Alexis moves abroad and we don’t have to worry about him anymore, or he stays for the rest of the season and Wenger has more time to negotiate and find a replacement.

The quoted £20m City would pay in January is the only thing the Gunners would miss out on, and I don’t think many fans will care much about that.