Chelsea have joined Manchester City and Manchester United in the race to sign Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, according to Sky Sports News.

The transfer saga has taken another extraordinary twist after City reportedly pulled out of the chase believing a deal for the 29-year-old would be too expensive.

That left United in pole position with the Red Devils widely believed to have been offering the Chilean more than £350,000 per week to move to Old Trafford.

However, the Premier League champions are planning to hijack the transfer but are yet to make a formal offer.

Boss Antonio Conte is a known admirer of Sanchez and revealed last week he tried to sign the former Barcelona attacker from Udinese during his time as Juventus coach.

United, though, are thought to be remain as frontrunners and have offered have offered Armenia playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a makeweight in the deal to match the Gunners’ £35million valuation.

They are also prepared to meet Sanchez’s signing-on fee which could amount to £20million and a £10million bill for the player’s agent.