Pep hints at why Sanchez signed for United

Cape Town - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested that the club partly failed to sign Alexis Sanchez because his salary demands did not fit in with his side's wage structure.

Rivals Manchester United snapped up the forward from Arsenal after the two teams were both initially battling to land his services. Sky Sports News reported that Sanchez is earning more than £350 000 per week at Old Trafford, which priced the Citizens out of any deal.

As such, while the perception exists that Man City have the financial resources to sign any player in the world, Guardiola says this is not the case.

He said: "When you want to handle four competitions sometimes you have to be lucky with injuries. Otherwise you need 22 top players for every position.

"People don't believe this, but today 22 top players is too expensive to buy, even [for] City. Their salaries we cannot pay.

"There are budgets for the transfers and we cannot pay. In the future, it may change but we haven't paid more than £80m-£100m for one player. We cannot pay that right now, it is the truth.

"That's why we need the academy to fight. Of course, we spend a lot money but it is the same money as a lot of other teams. I can assure you we are not the only team in the world that spend money."

Meanwhile, City will have to shift their focus back to the Premier League on Wednesday when they welcome West Bromwich Albion to the Ethihad stadium.

Kick-off is at 22:00