Alexis Sanchez agreed to sign a new Arsenal contract before joining Manchester United, it has been revealed.

Sanchez moved to United in January 2018 in a transfer which saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go in the opposite direction and link up with the Gunners.

Although there were only six months left on Sanchez's deal, it could have been a different story as the Chilean almost signed a new contract in December 2016.

"We had a deal," former Arsenal transfer negotiator Dick Law told Goal. "It was in December and we had been talking to his agent (Fernando Felicevich) throughout all of 2016, the whole year. We got to December, I flew to Santiago and we did the deal.

"The player agreed to it on a phone call from Fernando's office. Fernando and I shook hands and discussed how difficult the negotiation had been and we had the deal done."

While contracts were being drafted and documents were checked, Sanchez had a change of heart and opted not to sign. It remains unclear who persuaded the forward against inking the deal.