Former Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez has revealed he asked his agent if he could tear his contract and return to the Emirates after his first training session at Carrington.
The Chile international tore up the Premier League in the 2016/17 season with Arsenal. He racked up 24 goals while providing 10 assists, finishing as one of the season’s best players.
This superb individual performance had a host of top clubs from around Europe Scrambling for the Chilean’s signature, including both Manchester clubs in the Premier League.
Finally, in the January window of 2018, Sanchez secured a move away from Arsenal.
After initially agreeing to a deal to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, the Chilean made a U-turn on his decision and joined the Red Devils.
A higher wage, compensation, and bonuses were said to have been the major factor behind his decision as he would become the club’s top-earner.
However, he failed to meet the club’s expectations as he never tapped into the form at his former club in his two-year spell at United. He managed only five goals in 45 appearances before he was shipped out to Inter.
In a revealing video on Instagram, Alexis Sanchez reveals he asked his agent if he could leave the Old Trafford and return to Arsenal after his first training session with Manchester United.
The new Inter Milan man revealed his side of the story on his failed spell with Manchester United claiming at the time when he arrived, the club wasn’t like family.
Sanchez said: “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’s something that doesn’t sit right, it doesn’t seem good.
“But I 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.”
The 31-year-old believes he was being scapegoated for the club’s failures and it hurt him.
“I’m telling you my experience, the journalists at times would speak without knowing the facts and it hurt, they had no idea what was going on inside the club,” he added.
“They said it was my fault, and this, and that, but sometimes a player depends on the environment, the family that is created around him, and I think that in that moment we weren’t really a family.
“And that translated onto the pitch, and since there needed to be someone to blame, they blamed me.”
For the first time in his career with the Reds, Jose Mourinho dripped Sanchez from a match-day squad during their clash with West Ham United.
Sanchez could only watch from the stands as United ultimately lost 3-1.
“I remember a game against West Ham, I wasn’t picked and that never happened during my career,” he added.
“That changed a lot, it really bothered me and that day I told myself that it couldn’t be possible to go from one of the best players in the Premier League to that in the space of five months.
“That bothered me a little, I got home and I was very sad for what happened, the next day I put in a double training session – as I’ve always been, I demand the best from myself in my job, I love what I do, I like football a lot.”
