Pep Guardiola has claimed Manchester City would have damaged the stability of the club had they succumbed to the financial demands of Alexis Sanchez and his agent.

Sanchez is expected to sign for Manchester United in the coming days, with Armenia midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan due to join Arsenal in return after bidding an emotional farewell to his United team-mates and club staff on Friday afternoon.

Mkhitaryan and Sanchez trained with their current clubs on Friday but neither are expected to be included in the United or Arsenal match-day squads to face Burnley and Crystal Palace respectively on Saturday as their transfers near completion.

The Telegraph revealed this week that United’s move for Sanchez will be worth up to £180 million, which includes a signing-on bonus of £20m to the Chilean as well as wages of around £510,000 a week before tax and a payment of at least £10m to the player’s agent, Fernando Felicevich.

City had been the firm favourites to sign Sanchez after a long courtship, which included a collapsed £60m deadline-day bid last August, but Guardiola said the Premier League leaders pulled out of the race after balking at the spiralling cost of a deal that would have jeopardised the club’s wage structure and wider stability.

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Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is City’s highest earner at present, on around £250,000 a week, but Sanchez’s salary would have dwarfed that, comfortably eclipsed the new £16m deal midfielder Kevin de Bruyne is on the verge of signing and risked upsetting dressing room harmony.

“Normally we try to be stable with the wages of the players because I think it is good for the team and stability of the club,” Guardiola said. “I’ve never put pressure on a club when they believe it is too much. Immediately I accept that decision and move forward to find another solution. The stability of the club is the most important thing.

“We’ve spent a lot of money, we can’t deny that. But in my period at Barcelona, my period at Bayern Munich and now here, I never pushed or pressured the club to say ‘I want those players’ when the club believes and says it’s too much. The stability of the club is the most important thing.”

City are convinced Sanchez’s preference was to join them and feel his head has been turned by the money on offer at their rivals. Guardiola issued a warning to Sanchez by insisting it is a “mistake” for players to go ahead with a move they are not “completely committed” to but insisted he felt no anger towards the player he managed at Barcelona and congratulated United on their impending signing.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has said goodbye to his Man Utd team-mates credit: ACTION IMAGES

“I think if the player decides to move to another club, it is because they are completely committed to what they want to do in terms of salary, in terms of where they want to be, where they want to live, their family,” Guardiola said. “If they move on and they are not completely committed, it is a mistake for the player, for the manager and for the club as well. I think he is going to United so congratulations to both of them.”

City are expected to recruit a centre-half this month, with West Bromwich Albion defender Jonny Evans in their sights. They are also working on a deal for Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred, with a view to the Brazilian joining at the end of the season, and will also aim to sign another centre-half and a striker in the summer. “We feel we need to invest in the summer, with three or four [players],” Guardiola said. “If we do it now we do it for the summer.”

Man City remain interested in Jonny Evans credit: GETTY IMAGES

Jose Mourinho, the United manager, has warned his players not to allow the Sanchez saga to affect their focus against Burnley. “In this moment Mkhitaryan is our player, Sanchez an Arsenal player and with a match [against Burnley] I want to switch off and focus on the most important thing, which is the match,” he said.

Mourinho said that he felt the January transfer window was “to help clubs that didn’t work well in the summer” but described Sanchez as a “special situation”. “The team is lacking nothing,” he said. “It [Sanchez] is just thinking about the improvement of the team in the future. If we have in our mind in the summer to improve the team in two or three positions, if you have the chance to do something now it means that you don’t do it in the summer.”