Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola reportedly fears that this summer is the only opportunity that the club will get to snap up Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal.
The Chilean international has been heavily linked with an exit from the Emirates this summer, as he has just 12 months remaining on his current contract and a renewal doesn’t seem to be close as he looks set to reveal his plans this week.
In turn, with Man City being an interested party, several sides have been linked with swooping for the 28-year-old but things could be about to get very complicated for City which has forced them to speed up their plans to sign the talismanic forward.
According to The Sun, Guardiola could see the club banned from signing players for the next two transfer windows after this summer, after a row over youngster Benjamin Garre.
It’s claimed by Velez Sarsfield that the Premier League giants broke regulations to sign the player when he turned 16, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport now set to hear the case after FIFA rejected their complaint.
Should Velez win the next stage of the legal battle, then it could leave City in a difficult spot, and in turn it’ll force them to splash out more so this summer while they can, which means that they’ll have to speed up the Sanchez signing if they want the £50m-rated ace.
If the decision goes against them, they’ll be cut out of the picture next summer when it comes to Sanchez being a free agent. As a result, the report suggests that it’s a now-or-never situation for City as they hope to land his signature and reunite him with Guardiola after their time together at Barcelona.
The Spanish tactician has been linked with a number of players this summer, and it’s surely going to be very tricky to manage the budget this summer if they are forced to press ahead with signing Sanchez too.