Juventus have lodged an official €30million (£25m) bid for Alexis Sanchez, the Italian media have claimed.
Arsenal remain locked in contract negotiations with Sanchez, who is demanding a sizeable pay increase to remain at the Emirates beyond his current deal
The Chilean superstar’s existing contract is set to expire at the summer of 2018.
As Sanchez’s future remains uncertain, Corriere dello Sport claim that Juventus are plotting a swoop with a £25m bid.
Their headline reads: “Here is Alexis Sanchez – Juve, another champion!”
The longer that Arsenal wait to confirm Sanchez’s future, the harder it will be for them to demand big transfer fees, with his current contract dwindling.
Sanchez remains in something of a stand-off with the Arsenal board after being offered a deal in the region of £180,000-a-week.
But the 28-year-old is demanding a wage well in excess of the £200,000-a-week mark.
Chairman Sir Chips Keswick says the club will be “rational” in their negotiations with Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, who is in a similar predicament.
In his report statement, Keswick said: ‘We have continued to invest in the region of key players.
“Francis Coquelin, Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud have all signed new contracts whilst we have taken up options to extend the contracts of Per Mertesacker and Santi Cazorla.
“Further work is required in the area of contract renewals and we will continue to invest rationally in our squad retention as we move forward.”
Meanwhile, only five of the 14,000 people who vowed to march through Chilean capital Santiago to convince Sanchez to leave Arsenal showed up to the event.
A Facebook event was set up last month in the wake of Arsenal’s 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich by football fans who wanted to march through the streets of Santiago on March 1 in order to send a message to the Gunners playmaker.
More than 14,000 people declared their interest via the social network, but when the big day finally arrived the streets of the Chilean capital weren’t exactly teeming with protesters.
While the brave quintet made plenty of noise, they perhaps expected more from the event, which was initially set up as a joke, but drew attention from all over the world.
The group was called The National March for Alexis Sanchez to leave Arsenal and their post read: “Chileans are tired of watching one of our stars work alone so that their team can move forward.
“We do not want him to play in Madrid, not to return to Barcelona, the truth is that we do not give a damn what team to play, we just want to see him fight along with ten others to get results. No more alone.”
