Chelsea save face with late bid for Manchester United-bound Alexis Sanchez — report

Alexis Sanchez is perhaps mere hours from joining Manchester United from Arsenal, putting an end to at least a year’s worth of speculation that has seen him linked with Chelsea, then strongly linked with Manchester City, and now set to join Mourinho’s outfit instead.

But what’s this? Do you hear that? Did you feel that? Did you see the water ripple in the cup?

Here comes the GAZUMP!

Ah, gazump. We’ve missed you so.

But what’s that smell in the air? Is that ... could it be ... yes, I’m afraid so. Desperation is a stinky cologne.

Another explanation is that Alexis’s agent is using Chelsea as a bogey team, which is fairly standard practice as well.

Chelsea have shown no sign of being willing to pay the transfer fee required, and more importantly the wages needed to convince Alexis to join, and with good reason. The 29-year-old is set to earn somewhere between £350k and £400k per week at United, and that’s not a hit that Chelsea can easily absorb. Alexis may be a great player, but Chelsea aren’t going to pay him as much as Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas combined.

So, this is likely to be nothing more than a face-saving exercise, a rather transparent attempt at trying to appease the fans’ discontent. (Conte’s contentment doesn’t enter into this; he’s already spoken about the financial reasons behind Chelsea not making this move.)