Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher discussed the value of Alexis Sanchez ahead of the Chilean’s potential departure from Arsenal.
The pair debated how much Sanchez is worth on Sky Sports show Monday Night Football.
According to their figures, the 29-year-old could’ve joined Manchester City for £20m, with no agent fee and £290,000-per-week wages. That’s a total cost of £72.8m over the course of the contract.
Meanwhile, if he joins Manchester United, it’ll be a £35m transfer fee, plus £5m agent fee, and £350,000-a-week in wages. That’s over £30m more overall, at £103.7m.
CARRA: I don't think that has got anything to do with it.
NEV: Of course it's got something to do with it!
How much is Alexis Sanchez worth? @GNev2 and @carra23 went head to head on Monday Night Football…https://t.co/fq5BEIor0j pic.twitter.com/HtcNUJCgOi
— Sky Sports PL (@SkySportsPL) January 16, 2018
Neville couldn’t understand why City would pull out of the deal over £30m when they’d spend more on the likes of defender Kyle Walker. Carragher thought it was more about the principle of being messed around by Alexis. They both have a fair point.
If City really are pulling out of the deal for financial reasons, it’s completely bizarre. They won’t spend any less buying a £50m+ player in the summer, even on smaller wages. Perhaps it is about the morals of Alexis acting like he wanted to join and then entertaining United’s bigger offer.
If so, City need to remember they’ve been trying to tap him up for the best part of a year. Any moral high ground they could’ve stood on has long since crumbled.
From an Arsenal perspective, at least it seems like the club might get a fair bit of their money back. The Gunners bought Sanchez for £35m back in 2014, and paid him wages of around £140,000. Over three-and-a-half years, that’s £25.48m in wages, and £60.48m total.
Considering the 29-year-old only has six months left on his contract, getting over half of that money back is decent business. Now they just need to get the deal done and spend the cash wisely.