Messi’s Former Teammate Admits He Wanted To Leave Man Utd After 1st Training Session

Alexis Sanchez has admitted that he wanted to cancel his contract with Manchester United after his first training session with the Old Trafford side.

Sanchez, who first earned the attention of top European clubs at Italy’s Udinese, spent three seasons there. In the summer of 2011, FC Barcelona signed the striker as their boss Pep Guardiola saw massive potential in the young Sanchez, who could play at all the three attacking positions and showed intense defensive skills.

The Chilean forward justified the faith Guardiola showed in him as he went on to score regularly and struck a great partnership with Lionel Messi in the front-line. He scored 47 goals in 141 matches across three seasons, where he helped the Catalans to win six trophies. Ahead of the 2014-15 season, Arsenal signed Sanchez for $42 million on a long-term contract. In the four seasons at Emirates, Sanchez scored 80 goals in 166 competitive appearances. His best season came in 2016-17, where the Chile national hammered 30 goals in as many as 51 matches across all competitions.

In the 2018 January transfer window, Man Utd made a big deal out of Sanchez’s signing, who moved to Old Trafford in a swap deal that saw Armenia’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan join Arsenal. Man Utd revealed Sanchez’s signing via a video, where the star forward played ‘Glory Glory Man Utd’ on the piano. In fact, Man Utd agreed to a deal that included Sanchez earn a mind-boggling $531,000-a-week.

However, Sanchez turned out to be a big flop at Man Utd. His 19 months at Old Trafford were nothing short of being disastrous as he managed to net just five goals in 45 matches. Ahead of the 2019-20 season, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer loaned Sanchez off to Inter Milan. Although his run in Italy was injury-hit, he made a difference towards the end of the season as he scored four goals and provided 10 assists.

While Solskjaer vowed Sanchez would return to Old Trafford and prove his doubters wrong, the player preferred to stay permanently in Italy. Inter Milan triggered the buyout clause that saw them sign the player on a free transfer and Man Utd got rid of Sanchez’s massive weekly wage. Sanchez took a massive pay cut to leave Man Utd forever.

In an Instagram video, the 31-year-old has confessed that after his first training session at Man Utd, he told his agent that he wanted to go back to Arsenal.

"After the first training session, I realized many things & when I got back home, I told my agent if I could cancel the contract & go back to Arsenal," said Sanchez in the video.

Not sure if Sanchez’s relationship with the legendary Old Trafford club will ever repair, it is certain that he won’t get a warm reception whenever he returns to Old Trafford next.