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A handful of players have moved between Premier League rivals Arsenal and Manchester United over the years
Former Arsenal winger Alexis Sanchez has admitted he instantly regretted leaving Arsenal for Manchester United as he called his agent after one training session asking if he could rip up his contract at Old Trafford.
The player’s departure from the Gunners in January 2018 became almost inevitable as he would not sign a new contract at the Emirates Stadium, with the North London club aiming to secure a fee for the forward rather than risk losing him on a free transfer. He had scored 80 goals in 166 games, providing 44 assists, since joining Arsenal from Barcelona in 2014. He signed for United after a swap deal was agreed between the clubs with midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan going the other way. Sanchez’s four-and-a-half-year deal in Manchester was reportedly worth £14m a year after tax.
Speaking at the time of his move, Sanchez said: “I am thrilled to be joining the biggest club in the world. I have spent three-and-a-half wonderful years at Arsenal and I bring with me very positive memories of that great club and its fans. The chance to play in this historic stadium and to work with Jose Mourinho was something I could not turn down. I am very proud to be the first Chilean player ever to play for United and I hope I can show our fans all around the world why the club wanted to bring me here.”
However, things did not work out for the Chilean at Old Trafford as he scored just five goals in 45 appearances while notching nine assists. And despite his delight at joining, Sanchez revealed how he quickly regretted leaving North London. He said back in 2020: "I accepted the opportunity to go to United. 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."
Arsene Wenger was still in charge of the Gunners when Sanchez opted to leave and said at the time: “I understand nothing. You ask me how can I understand that you want to leave Arsenal. One thing when you make transfers for 30 years you know a lot about human beings. He’s professional. It’s his last contract, maybe, at the top level and it was an important contract. After that, I accept that. We accept to let him go. We analysed the pros and the cons. We did what we had to do. We went as far as we could go. Even Man City moved out of it in the end. That tells you we had no chance to give him a contract.”
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