Manchester City failed in their last-ditch attempt to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal on transfer deadline day.

It is understood that a deal may well have gone through if Thomas Lemar agreed to join the Gunners from Monaco.

However, the 21-year-old French winger decided to stay put in Ligue 1 and the Sanchez deal was therefore off-the-table.

The 28-year-old Chilean forward - who was angling for a move to a Champions League club - has less than 12 months to run on his current deal at the Emirates and could be sold in January.

Otherwise, he will be able to leave the club as a free agent next summer.

Despite the transfer saga, Sanchez is expected to return to the first XI when Arsenal host Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.

"He will be back very quickly to his best," said the veteran French manager.

"The transfer market is over, there was a lot going on. It's very difficult to speak about because Lemar is now at Monaco and has to focus there, Sanchez is here and his focus is here,"

Lying 16th in the table, Arsene Wenger must be aware that it is a must-win game following back-to-back humiliating defeats to Stoke City and Liverpool.

Guardiola reveals Arsenal's initial demands

In the build-up to Transfer Deadline Day, there were reports circulating in the press that Manchester City had offered cash plus Raheem Sterling in an attempt to land Arsenal's star man.

According to Pep Guardiola, those reports are completely untrue.

“When we started to speak with Arsenal in the last days, they wanted to make a swap with Raz [Raheem Sterling]," said Guardiola in his press conference on Friday, as per the Express.

"They talked to me and I said ‘no chance - zero chance. Not one per cent chance we will swap Raz because I trust a lot in him'.

"He's 22 years old, an English player, there is a lot of room to improve.

"We only made an offer with cash, they accepted, but couldn't sign their player."

Sterling came off the bench to score crucial goals in each of Manchester City's last two Premier League outings.

He's suspended for Saturday's clash with Liverpool after receiving a second yellow card for his 97th minute goal celebration against Bournemouth.