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Gossip: Manchester City 'close on £50m Alexis', Arsenal 'Lemar bid snubbed', Aubameyang 'set for China'

Transfer targets: Lemar, Aubameyang, Sanchez
Transfer targets: Lemar, Aubameyang, Sanchez

Do Manchester City really need Alexis Sanchez? They’ve already got Aguero and Jesus – a classic old man, young man combination – vying for their centre-forward spot, along with Sterling, Sane, De Bruyne and Silva (B or D) providing the ammo. Not to mention Iheanacho, and Wilfried Bony – expecting big things from him this year. Alexis is a nice-to-have, but City will be fine without him.

Arsenal, meanwhile, need Alexis like plants need rain, like Kim Kardashian needs Instagram, like the Tories need the Daily Mail. Without him, they are at risk of becoming extinct. And if the world of football was remotely fair, City would just let the Gunners keep him.

But no, they just keep trying to buy him, like the big bullies they are. And this time they’re going to get him.

That, at least, is the view of the Daily Mirror, which says City have emerged as “front runners” for the Chilean forward after Bayern Munich pulled out of the race to sign him because he’s “too expensive”. Not a problem City have ever had (not since 2008 anyway).

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The Guardian concurs that City are “increasingly confident” of signing Sanchez in the coming weeks for a fee “in the region of £50m” due to the player’s desire to work with his former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. Has anyone considered Arsene Wenger’s feelings here?

The Gunners boss has other problems too, as Monaco have rejected his £30m-plus bid for 21-year-old winger Thomas Lemar, and he may now have to turn his attention to Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez instead (Telegraph).


Chinese tourists

Paris Saint-Germain are being annoying by trying to sign Chelsea target Alex Sandro (Mail) and Manchester United target Fabinho (Record). The latter Brazilian seems most likely to move to Paris, with PSG’s bid for the Monaco player said to be “considerably more advanced” than United’s.

Gabonese goal machine Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is set to snub a move to one of Europe’s top clubs (or Arsenal) to move to Chinese Super League outfit Tianjin Quanjian in a £70m deal instead, says the Star. Money-grabbing Gabonese goal machine also has a nice ring to it.

The Chinese are also set to swoop for Watford striker Stefano Okaka, who is poised to join Shanghai Shenhua for £12m, following his similarly expensive former team-mate Odion Ighalo to the Far East (Sun). Do Watford have some cult following in China that we don’t know about, like the time all those Chinese tourists started visiting that random English village?

Elsewhere, Chelsea may try to hijack Roma defender Kostas Manolas’ £26m move to Zenit St Petersburg (Telegraph), Jonny Evans is considering quitting West Brom because he’s upset that his mate Darren Fletcher has moved to Stoke (Mirror) and RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita appears to have dealt a blow to Liverpool’s hopes of signing him by saying he “wants to move to one of the very big clubs, like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester City” (Manchester Evening News). Sorry Reds fans, but billions of pounds of Emirati investment trumps 18 league titles these days.