louis mallowa
September 4, 2020
Alexis Sanchez admits he wanted to leave Manchester United and return to Arsenal after his first training session with the club.
United surprisingly beat Manchester City in the race to sign Sanchez from Arsenal in January 2018 but the Chile international, who was earning £560,000 a week during his time at Old Trafford, will go down as one of the most expensive failures in the club’s history.
Sanchez was unable to make an impact for United and scored just five goals in 45 appearances before he was allowed to join Inter on loan last summer.
Sanchez admits he was unhappy with the atmosphere in United’s squad under Jose Mourinho and believes that was a major factor behind his struggles at Old Trafford.
And the 31-year-old claims his was so dismayed following his arrival at United that he even floated the idea of returning to the Gunners to his family and agent.
‘I want to tell you about my period at United, about many things that have been said which made me look bad,’ Sanchez said in a video on Instagram.
‘Before going there, I had an agreement with Manchester City but it didn’t work out and I got the chance to join Manchester United. It was something nice for me, as a kid I liked the club a lot.
I ended up signing without having a lot of information about what was happening with the move. During the first few days that I was with my new teammates, sometimes there are things that you do not realise until you arrive.
‘After the first training I had I realised many things. When I got home and I asked my family and my representative: “Can my contract be terminated and can I to return to Arsenal?”
‘They were laughing about it but I really felt there were some bad things going on at the club which I did not like.
‘We were not united as a team. The journalists would talk without knowing and I would get upset, even ex-players who did not know anything about how things were but they would blame me.
