The real reason Alexis Sanchez snubbed Liverpool and joined Arsenal revealed

Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre has revealed why Alexis Sanchez opted to join Arsenal over Liverpool in 2014.

The Chile international became surplus to requirements at Barcelona after the Catalan club agreed a deal to sign Luis Suarez from Anfield that summer.

Liverpool had agreed a deal to bring Sanchez the other way but it fell through when Arsenal made their interest clear.

Eventually Sanchez joined Arsenal in a £31.7million deal.

Ayre says that it was the lure of living in London that attracted Sanchez to the Emirates over Anfield.

‘The thing to understand is that you are never actually in complete control of who you buy and sell as a club,’ Ayre said at Liverpool John Moores University’s Roscoe Lecture Series.

‘There was much-publicised interest in Alexis Sanchez, as part of the deal which saw Luis [Suarez] go to Barcelona, and that deal was done.

‘The only reason it wasn’t was that the player and his wife wanted to live in London.’

The failure to sign Sanchez was a huge blow to Liverpool and has been rubbed in ever since with the striker going on to make 137 appearances for the Gunners and score 66 goals.

But as Ayre pointed out, there was little the Merseyside club could do.

‘We couldn’t move the football club to London, unfortunately!’