Roberto Mancini reveals Manchester City have pulled out of race for Udinese’s Alexis Sanchez after ‘serious offers’, as Barcelona move edges…

Alexis Sanchez – Udinese (Getty Images)

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Manchester City have given up hope of luring Udinese‘s Alexis Sanchez to England, as manager Roberto Mancini has revealed that the club have pulled out of the race for the Chile international.

The FA Cup winners were keen to sign the 22-year-old this summer, but Sanchez has set his sights on a move to Barcelona instead, and Mancini has admitted defeat in his attempts to sign the player.

“I talked to Alexis, but he wants to move to Barcelona. We have thus decided to withdraw from the negotiations to buy the player, although we have made some serious offers for him,” Mancini was quoted as saying by Sky Sports Italia.

Sanchez revealed on Tuesday that he is only interested in a move to the Spanish champions and added that he would stay at Udinese if a move to Catalunya fell through.

Udinese representative Quique Pina revealed last week that the deal is almost complete, and Sport claims that both sides have now resumed negotiations to wrap up the transfer.

Barcelona and Udinese have reached an agreement on a transfer fee of €40 million (£35.7m), but the Champions League winners want to pay an initial €27m (£24.1m) with the remaining €13m (£11.6m) depending on variables.

The Italian club are willing to accept the valuation, but want to be sure that the eventual transfer payment amounts to €40m (£35.7m), and are reluctant to accept stipulations depending on the player’s performances at Camp Nou.

Both sides seem to be keen to finalise the deal shortly, however, and a solution to allow Sanchez to complete his switch could be presented shortly.