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 will go down as one of the most expensive failures in the club’s history.
Sanchez was unable to make an impact and scored just five goals in 45 appearances before he was allowed to leave for Inter 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 Sanchez claims his was so dismayed following his arrival at United that he even floated the idea of returning to the Gunners.
‘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.
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‘I ended up signing without much information about what was happening with the move. The first days that I was with my teammates, sometimes there are things that you do not realise until you arrive.
‘The first training I had I realised many things. When I got home and I asked my family and my representative: “Can the 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 didn’t like.
‘We weren’t united as a team. The journalists would talk without knowing and I would get upset, even ex-players who didn’t know anything about how things were but they would blame me.
‘But as player you need the team to be united, to be a family, and we weren’t. And you could see it on the pitch, but because they had to blame someone they would always blame me.
‘Sometimes I wouldn’t even play or I would only play 20 or 30 minutes but it would always be my fault.
‘Of course I know I could have played better and I didn’t, I got injured maybe because I wasn’t happy and it would affect the team, but according to them it was always my fault and I would feel bad. I wasn’t happy about the whole situation.’
Sanchez also recalled the time when he was left out of the squad by Mourinho and gave a special mention to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for allowing him to join Inter on loan last season.
‘There was a match against West Ham where I didn’t even get selected and that had never happened to me before, it made me really upset,’ said Sanchez.
‘I couldn’t understand that I had gone from being one of the best players in Premier League five months ago to not even even playing.
‘After that, I got home, I was really upset and sad, and the next day I did a double training session. That’s how I am and I try to do my best and football is what I love.
‘The next season we got a new coach [Solskjaer], I spoke with him and I told him that I needed the opportunity to leave and Inter was as an option.
‘I needed fresh air, and he said there was no problem with that and I left. I only have kind words to United for the opportunity.
‘I’m upset that things didn’t go the way I wanted. If the team was more united and we were more like a family, if everything was more positive, I think we could’ve achieved better things.
‘I’m telling all of this because I have learned from this as a player and as a person.
‘Thanks again to United and I am sad because I would’ve liked to win trophies and make the fans happy.’
Photo Credit: Getty
