The superstar joined Manchester United for £63m but quickly regretted his decision, wanting to rip up his contract after just one training session with the fallen Premier League giants
05:00, 22 Dec 2024
Jose Mourinho and Alexis Sanchez was not a match made in heaven at Manchester United
Jose Mourinho and Alexis Sanchez was not a match made in heaven at Manchester United
Alexis Sanchez wanted to cut short his stint with Manchester United after his first training session.
Having arrived in English football in 2014, the mercurial forward made an instant splash at Arsenal following his move from Barcelona. His initial season with the Gunners saw him clinch the FA Cup and amass a total of 25 goals, which landed him the club's Player of the Year title.
After a second season that didn't quite hit the same heights, the Chilean ace made a resounding comeback, netting 24 goals the next term. Sanchez quickly became a key player for Arsene Wenger's squad, catching the eyes of Manchester City and United.
When City retracted their transfer offer for him, the forward made the controversial decision to head to Old Trafford, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving in the opposite direction. The star's high-profile switch ignited great expectation within Jose Mourinho's camp at the time.
Yet, looking back, Sanchez - who turned 36 this week - admitted feeling immediate remorse for jumping ship between two Premier League rivals. Speaking out in 2020, he said: "I accepted the opportunity to go to United.
Alexis Sanchez endured a miserable time with Manchester United
Alexis Sanchez endured a miserable time with Manchester United(Image: PA)
"It felt tempting, and it was something good for me. I liked this club a lot when I was a kid. Eventually, I signed, but I didn't ask for information on what was happening inside the club.
"Sometimes there are things that you don't realise until you get there, and I remember the first training session I had, I realised a lot of things.
"After the session I got home and I told my family and my agent, 'Can you not rip up the contract to go back to Arsenal? ' They laughed. I told them there was something that didn't sit right, it didn't seem good.
"But I had already signed; I was already there. After the first few months, I carried on having the same feeling. We weren't united as a team in that moment."
With seven league goals under his belt before the switch, Sanchez could only muster two more following his mid-season move, also tasting defeat in the FA Cup final against Chelsea. The next season proved to be an utter nightmare, reports the Manchester Evening News.
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Struggling to hit the net in the first six league matches of the new season, he found himself benched for a game against West Ham, a decision by Mourinho that severely dented the striker's confidence. Sanchez, who the BBC reports was on a lucrative four-and-a-half-year deal worth £14m annually after tax, remarked: "In a game with West Ham, I wasn't picked.
"That had never happened to me as a player. It bothered me, and I said it couldn't be possible. To go from being one of the best in the Premier League to not playing in five months. I came to my house, and I was very sad. The next day, I trained in a double shift because I love what I do."
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Despite his additional efforts on the training ground, Sanchez's form did not improve that season. He could only manage to score twice across all competitions, his performance hindered by a hamstring injury. Following an initial loan to Italy the subsequent season, he eventually made a permanent move to Inter Milan in 2020.
Sanchez stayed with Inter Milan until 2022 before moving on to spend a season with Marseille and making a comeback in 2023. Hes currently lacing his boots for Udinese, marking quite a journey from his glory days in north London.