Barcelona sold to lower bidders despite having bigger offers on the table.
The close relationship between Arsenal and Barcelona really shone through this summer as the Spanish giants accepted the player’s desire to move to London over the bigger financial offer put together by Liverpool, the Daily Mirror reports.
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The Reds offered the Catalan club more money for the forward, but according to Spanish newspaper Sport, took a £3million hit to allow the 25-year-old to join the club he wanted.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers had targeted the player as the ideal man to replace Luis Suarez, who headed the other way to Barcelona, with the manager even trying to include him as part of a swap deal.
And in an attempt to stump their rivals, Liverpool officials were sanctioned to make a better financial offer than the Gunners.
However, Alexis always wanted to move to Ashburton Grove and Barca – who have done numerous big-money deals with Arsenal over the last 15 years, including the likes of Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry, Aliaksandar Hleb and this summer Thomas Vermaelen – allowed the forward his wish.
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