Despite coming so close to joining Manchester City, Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez completed his transfer to Manchester United on Monday evening.

The 29-year-old - who joined from Barcelona in a £35m deal - spent three-and-a-half seasons at Arsenal, scoring 80 goals and winning two FA Cups.

Frozen out by Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined the Gunners in a swap-deal that suited all parties involved.

"I’m very happy that we could finish this deal and I’m very happy to be here," said Mkhitaryan on Arsenal's official website.

"It’s a dream come true because I’ve always dreamed of playing for Arsenal. Now that I’m here, I’ll do my best for this club to create history.

"I always loved the way that Arsenal played and the way that Arsène Wenger has managed the team. There have been a lot of young players, he’s managed them and they’ve done very well."

Mkhitaryan is ineligible to play in Wednesday night's Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea but Sanchez will be available when the Red Devils visit Yeovil Town in the FA Cup on Friday night.

Wenger recounts moment he told Sanchez

There is a narrative amongst the Arsenal fans that Sanchez - who made his intentions about leaving clear in the summer - wasn't giving his all on the pitch this season.

Wenger rubbished these suggestions to reporters and revealed the exact moment he told Sanchez that a deal had been agreed.

“Alexis is a great guy and has always been committed," said Wenger in his Tuesday morning press conference.

"Did the negotiations go well or not well? It has never affected him and I would just like to remind you I took him to the hotel on the night before the Crystal Palace game and he was completely focused and ready to play the next day until I told him, ‘Look you can go home, the deal is over the line’.

"No matter how the negotiations went he was always focused on football.”

Arsenal thrashed Crystal Palace 4-1 on Saturday afternoon, incredibly going 4-0 up within 20 minutes without Sanchez in the squad.

Wenger is hoping to sign Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and didn't rule out bringing in other new faces in the January transfer window.

“You never know how close," said Wenger on Aubameyang. "These are the kind of things that, at the moment, are one of the possible movements.

"We have other things in mind as well and we have plenty of opportunities in different positions. We can buy players. We are busy on all fronts, so overall I think we are open-minded. Every opportunity we have to strengthen our squad, we’ll take.”