Sources: Man City to reject Arsenal offers for first-team stars
Man City are not planning on selling any more first-team stars to Arsenal, sources have told Football Insider.
City are kicking themselves at allowing Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to join the Londoners last summer and help transform them into title challengers.
The two clubs are now going head to head in a mouthwatering title race that promises to go down to the wire following Sunday’s 2-2 thriller against Liverpool.
Jesus scored in the match and has played a key role for Arsenal this season, while Zinchenko has also been instrumental in his left-back role.
They have proved good value for the £45million paid for the Brazilian striker, and the £30m plus £2m of add-ons cost for the Ukranian defender.
Pep Guardiola gave the green light for both stars to leave after securing deals for replacements.
Arsenal signed Jesus in a £45million deal and Zinchenko later joined for £30million plus £2million of add-ons.
City chiefs have decided there will be no repeat this summer of senior players, even fringe ones, heading to Arsenal should they come calling for a deal.
Any potential offers from the Londoners will be rejected.
The Gunners lead City by six points in the Premier League but Arteta’s team have played a game more and have to travel to the Etihad Stadium to play their main rivals.
Historically, it has been Arsenal players lured to City with Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, and Emmanuel Adebayor all heading north during the Sheikh Mansour era.
In other news, Aston Villa now turn attention to signing Man City star in club-record deal.