Author: Jhanna Virabian

Agence France Presse
 Tuesday 2:07 PM GMT


Football: Sanchez transfer 'hinges on Mkhitaryan deal', says agent

London, Jan 16 2018

Manchester United's bid to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal hinges on
Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving the other way, the Armenian player's agent
said Tuesday as Antonio Conte distanced Chelsea from a potential deal.

Chile international Sanchez, who appears to have played his last game
for Arsenal, had been strongly linked with a move to either Manchester
United or Manchester City and Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has also
spoken of his admiration for the player.

The player, who is out of contract this summer, had appeared certain
to sign for Pep Guardiola's team after a transfer fell through in
August but it is understood City have pulled out of the race for the
29-year-old due to the costs involved.

There has been speculation Mkhitaryan will be offered as a makeweight
from United to land Sanchez, and Mourinho left the playmaker out of
the squad to face Stoke on Monday due to "doubts about his future".

Mkhitaryan's agent Mino Raiola told Britain's Times newspaper that
Sanchez's transfer to United was reliant on his client joining Arsenal
as part of the deal.

"Manchester United are not going to sign Sanchez unless Mkhi agrees to
join Arsenal," Raiola told the newspaper.

"Mkhi is going to do what is best for him. He has two-and-a-half years
left on his contract so it's his decision. Sanchez is part of the Mkhi
deal, not the other way around."

Conte last week described any potential cut-priced deal for the Chile
striker as a great opportunity but he told reporters on Tuesday that
he did not believe Chelsea were trying to sign the player.

- 'Great' signing -

Jose Mourinho, speaking after second-placed United had reduced Premier
League table-toppers City's lead to 12 points on Monday said it would
be "great" if Sanchez arrived at Old Trafford though he remained
non-committal.

"No news on Alexis Sanchez, he is an Arsenal player," he said. "If he
stays it's great for Arsenal, if he comes to us, great for us, if he
goes to another club, great for them."

If the transfer goes ahead it would be the third blockbuster move of
the January window involving Premier League clubs following Philippe
Coutinho's big-money switch from Liverpool to Barcelona and Virgil van
Dijk's arrival at Anfield from Southampton.

United have an impressive selection of forwards but Sanchez could
expect to become a fixture in the first team alongside Romelu Lukaku,
with doubts growing over the future of Zlatan Ibrahimovic following
his recent return from a long-term injury.

Sanchez joined Arsenal from Barcelona in 2014 and in a stellar 2016/17
campaign scored 30 goals and provided 17 assists, though his form has
since dipped.

His loss would be a major blow for Arsenal, who saw Robin van Persie
swap the Emirates for Old Trafford in 2012.

Arsenal have been linked with a move for Bordeaux forward Malcom but
Arsene Wenger, who said the club would need a replacement if Sanchez
were to leave, refused to confirm his interest in the Brazilian.

The British press widely reported on Tuesday that Arsenal were in
talks to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

Aubameyang was dropped at the weekend after missing a team meeting --
the third time he had been disciplined by the club after an
unauthorised video shoot and a trip to Milan shortly before a
Champions League game last season.

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Thursday


Iranian diplomat: Iran, Armenia and Georgia have a brilliant
opportunity to implement a number of trilateral projects

Yerevan 11.01.18

Marianna Mkrtchyan. Armenian Ambassador to Georgia Ruben Sadoyan
during the meeting with his Iranian counterpart Seyed Javad
Kavamshahid discussed the Armenian-Iranian economic relations.

As the press service of the Armenian Embassy in Georgia told ArmInfo,
the parties agreed at the beginning of the meeting that the relations
between Armenia and Iran are at a sufficiently high level and are
intertwined with many threads.

Speaking about economic cooperation, Sadoyan touched upon the
opportunities of Armenia as a transit country, and stressed that
official Yerevan is the only member of the Eurasian Economic Union
(EAP), which has land communication with friendly Iran and can become
a gateway for IRI in terms of access to the countries of the EAEC, CIS
and the EU.

In this context, the interlocutors stressed the importance of the
North-South road corridor as the shortest transit route connecting the
ports of the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea. The Iranian Ambassador to
Georgia noted that Tehran, Yerevan and Tbilisi have a brilliant
opportunity to implement a number of tripartite projects in such areas
as transport, energy and business. According to him, there are no
obstacles on this issue. The sides stated that the
Iran-Armenia-Georgia corridor could become a new and important bridge
linking Europe and Asia.

In this regard, Sadoyan stressed the importance of the interaction of
companies and management structures operating in the territory of the
free economic zone (FEZ) "Meghri" and FEZ "Araz." The interlocutor
also touched on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Sadoyan stated that the
efforts of Armenia and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are
constantly confronted with the opposition of Azerbaijan. According to
him, a vivid example of this, the last incident in Artsakh, when an
Armenian soldier died from the bullet of an Azerbaijani sniper.

The Ambassador stressed that Armenia highly appreciates the balanced
position of Iran on an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict on the basis of the norms of international law. Sadoyan also
inquired about the internal processes in Iran and stressed the
importance that the friendly IRI has for Armenia.