Arsenal transfer news: Bravo says Alexis Sanchez will be welcomed with open arms at Manchester City

Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has put the cat among the pigeons with respect to Alexis Sanchez's future at Arsenal, stating that the Citizens will welcome him with open arms if he does decide to leave the club this summer. The Chilean has been the subject of a lot of transfer speculation this summer, with the 28-year-old currently in the final year of his contract with the north London club.

The Sun reports that Pep Guardiola's City have already agreed to terms to sign the South American for £50m ($65m) this summer with the Premier League club keen to boost their forward line after having already signed three full-backs this window. However, Arsenal hope to keep hold of the forward and are even willing to allow him to leave on a free next summer.

His saga has taken a new turn after he reported sick ahead of his return to pre-season training after returning from an extended break following his participation in the Confederations Cup, where they lost to Germany in the finals. Sanchez's post on Instagram, which included an image of the former Barcelona forward with his dog and the caption "sick" came just hours after his belated return to the north London club was confirmed by Wenger on Thursday [27 July].

Bayern Munich have ruled themselves out of the race for the forward while Paris Saint-Germain have identified him as a backup option should they fail to complete a world record transfer of Neymar. Bravo, his compatriot in the Chilean first squad, believes he will always be welcome if he decides to make the move to City this summer.

"If he decides to go, we'll wait for him with open arms at City," Bravo told 24 Horas, as quoted by Four Four Two, who were together in the squad which finished runners-up in Russia. The stopper added that he did not expect to play a regular hand, given his dismal campaign last season but was pleased to start all games for his national team.

"I went to Russia almost with the idea of not taking part because I wasn't in good condition," he added. "I competed for my team-mates, who wanted me to play, and because I wanted to reverse the situation of not having had a good year."