Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak has explained allowing Alexis Sanchez to join Manchester United in January.

According to Al-Mubarak, the champions simply felt that a demand from Arsenal of a £40million transfer fee, plus wages reportedly in excess of £500,000-a-week, was simply too much - leaving the way clear for United.

“We identified him as a player that was a good fit for this club," said Al Mubarak, speaking in All or Nothing: Manchester City.

“Pep was very keen to have him join (in 2017) but it didn't happen. Not for the wrong reasons. There aren't any regrets.

"We looked at the situation again in January but the situation changed for us from how we looked at it in the summer and how we looked at it in the winter.

“And the reality is the economics simply didn't work any more."