By Chris Wright
The biggest news emanating from the transfer market this morning is that Chile have allowed Alexis Sanchez to leave their Copa America training camp in order to travel to Barcelona and rubber-stamp a transfer after Udinese accepted Barca’s $45 million (approx £26.4 million) offer for the 22-year old forward.
Chile coach Claudio Borghi has accepted that they have no option but to allow Sanchez to fly to Spain to complete the deal as they may end up liable to cover the cost of the transfer should the player get crocked while on international duty.
Said Borghi:
“It’s a very complicated matter. If we don’t allow him to travel, and the sale goes through, we would be accountable for $45 million in the event of anything happening to him. It’s very simple. As soon as the confirmation of his transfer comes through, he will have the authorisation to travel.”
Last week it was heavily rumoured that Man City had thrown enough money at the situation to land the in-demand forward, but that was all just buncum and wiff-waff. The shimmering, sirem-like lure of having Barca’s name listed in the ‘previous employers’ section of Sanchez’s CV proved to be just too inviting an offer to pass up.
Bum. How we were dearly looking forward to watching him in the Prem next season.
Shame on you Barca, shame on you.