Alexis Sanchez and a disastrous Manchester United move
Alexis Sanchez's time at Manchester United was a very chaotic one. Filled with poor management, poor handling of players around him, and overall joining a squad that was struggling for various reasons, the Chilean never achieved any meaningful accomplishments at Old Trafford. The fact that he remained only a year and a half, from January 2018 to the summer of 2019, is a testament to how poorly he performed.
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This is the story of Alexis Sanchez's time at Manchester United.
How Alexis Sanchez arrived at Manchester United
After signing for Arsenal from FC Barcelona during the summer of 2014, Alexis Sanchez became one of the biggest names in the English Premier League from that year until 2017. It was with the Gunners that the Chilean arguably reached the best form of his career, winning the FA Cup twice and also helping the club challenge for the league even if they didn't win the title.However, by the summer of 2017, Sanchez was eager to leave Arsenal to play in the Champions League and challenge for trophies, with a move to Manchester City being reported time and time again. That didn't materialize, though, and the former Barcelona man would have six months with inconsistent performances at the Emirates, only leaving in January to Manchester United through a swap deal involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with the latter heading the opposite way.
The Armenian has gone on record saying that the Red Devils' manager at the time, Jose Mourinho, antagonized him and constantly texted him to ask him to leave so he could get Alexis. However, all of this would make the Chilean's time at Old Trafford even more ironic.
Why it never worked on the pitch
One only has to look at the numbers of Alexis' time at Old Trafford to understand that he was a disappointment. He scored 5 goals in 45 matches across all competitions during the year and a half he spent there, initially signed to be a right-winger, although his favorite position was on the left. Mourinho would eventually switch him to the left, but the results would be the same and he would be casting aside Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, who had been performing quite well in that role during the first half of the season.United started the season well, challenging for the top places, but were beginning to struggle and the football was getting worse, which makes Mourinho's defense of Sanchez at the time a bit logical.
"He arrived at the worst possible time of the season, during the winter. That's why I'm not a big fan of the winter transfer window," Mourinho said in March of 2018, as per SPORT. "It was an opportunity we didn't want to miss. But we don't have much faith in the winter transfer market. I'm sure next season will be better for him. But he's learning how to play with us, and we're learning how to get the best out of him. He's not afraid to try things, to take responsibility. When he feels he's not creating the kind of danger he wants, he knows how to drop deeper and try things from there, try to build attacks."
The Chilean's best performance with the Red Devils would be against Manchester City, playing a massive role in his team's comeback for a 3-2 victory. It was one of the few times he managed to deliver for the club, although by the time Mourinho was sacked in late 2018, the writing was on the wall for him.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjær
The fallout from a failed transfer
By the time Ole Gunnar Solskjær was hired as Mourinho's replacement, Sanchez's time with the club was done since they were getting several victories in a role without him having any meaningful impact. By the player's own admission a few years later, he asked the Norwegian coach to let him go and that would happen during the summer of 2019, with Sanchez signing a loan deal with Serie A giants Inter Milan.He would eventually sign for the club on a permanent deal and never play for the Red Devils again. Then, in 2020, through his personal Instagram account, the Chilean would release a video in Spanish explaining the many things that went wrong at Old Trafford for him, citing the mood of the club, the lack of connections, and even saying that he wanted to tear up his contract after one training session.
"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," the Chilean forward said back in 2020, as per The Guardian. "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 on to the pitch, and since there needed to be someone to blame, they blamed me."
This is something that Mourinho seems to agree with, based on comments he made back in September of 2019, as per The Telegraph.
"Sanchez... I felt him (to be) not a happy man. And I think in every job you have when you are not happy it is not so easy to perform at every level. And maybe I am wrong. Maybe it was me who was not capable to get into him and to get the best out of him."
Alexis Sanchez's time at Manchester United seems to be a perfect example of the club's poor handling of signings since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013 and his hefty salary would also end up being a major issue to deal with for a while. It was, in hindsight, a disastrous deal for all parties involved.