It depends upon whether or not you support either of the two teams in question. If you do then YOUR team obviously negotiated the better deal. If you do not support either Arsenal or Manchester United then it is an interesting question.

Alexis Sánchez was about to be sold to Manchester City on the final day of the summer transfer window. If reports are to be believed, the reason that he wasn’t was because Thomas Lemar refused to join The Gunners from Monaco at very short notice, saying he needed time to think about it.

No problem, an obviously unhappy Sánchez remained at The Emirates while Arséne Wenger promised Lemar that he would come back for him, (given that Lemar has now had time to think about it, it would be a major surprise if he chose to join Arsenal).

Had everything gone according to plan, Sánchez would now be at City and Arsenal would either be £60million better off or they would have Lemar in their ranks.

Arsenal, at the time, were roundly lambasted, not least by Manchester City, for their mis-management of the whole affair.

Fast forward to this transfer window and Arsenal seem to have got it right this time. They have managed to convince a player, who could have remained at Manchester United, that he would be better off at a team with no Champion’s League involvement this year or next as they will finish outside of the top four, to come and join them.

He will, in fairness, get a chance of a couple of groundhog days as he may appear in the Carabao Cup final and the Europa League final.

In their favour was the fact that, back in 2009, Mkhitaryan had said that he wanted to play for Arsenal “one day”.

Quite why Ed Woodward at United is receiving so much praise for this transfer is a little baffling. He just had to convince Sánchez that challenging for the title on a regular basis, playing in the Champion’s League this season and next and being paid a lot more money than at Arsenal, would enrich his life. A far easier task than the one facing Arsenal.

But back to the question, who has the better deal?

Age-wise there is nothing in it. Well, there is, but Sánchez is only two months older than the Armenian.

Arsenal score a lot of goals even when Sánchez isn’t playing so Mkhitaryan will only enhance this stat both in creating and scoring himself. Wenger needs to find a way of bringing the best out of the player.

Sánchez can be moody and occasionally, out of sorts, but that is normally when the team is not playing well, a situation which WILL happen at United.

He is, however, undoubtedly world-class, whilst Mkhitaryan is yet to convince that he has reached that level just yet.

Mkhitaryan has been valued at around £35million by United which means that Sánchez was valued the same as no money has changed hands. This is £15million more than Manchester City were prepared to pay so it represents a good deal for Arsenal, who would have lost him for nothing in the summer.

The only other comparison available is that United got a player who wanted to leave Arsenal, whilst Arsenal got a player who didn’t want to leave United.

Whether or not this has any bearing going forward remains to be seen but the likelihood is that both clubs will feel they have made a good deal.

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