LONDON, United Kingdom, Sept 4 – Alexis Sanchez claims he wanted to return to former club Arsenal after his first day of training at Manchester United.
Sanchez joined Man Utd in a part-exchange deal from Arsenal, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving the other way. But the forward struggled immensely at Old Trafford under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, scoring just five goals for the club in 45 appearances.
That spell of poor form saw the Chile talisman loaned out to Serie A powerhouse Inter Milan to link up with the growing contingent of ex-Premier League players under Antonio Conte.
Sanchez made enough of an impression at the Italian club to sign a three-year contract at Inter worth £130,000 a week after Manchester United reportedly paid him £9m to terminate his contract.
And now the former Man United forward has outlined just how bad his experience at Old Trafford was in a video on Instagram.
Sanchez said: “I want to tell you about my period at United, about many things that have been said which made me look bad.
“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.
“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 for 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.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came in to replace Mourinho at Man Utd and Sanchez gives him a special mention for allowing him to leave to join Inter Milan on loan.
“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 how I had gone from being one of the best players in Premier League five months ago to not 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 giving me 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 have achieved better things. I’m saying 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.”
