I swapped Arsenal for Man Utd but wanted to rip up my contract and go back instantly

Alexis Sanchez revealed that he was ready to tear up his Manchester United contract in order to rejoin Arsenal following just one training session.

The Chilean forward spent three-and-a-half seasons in north London and accumulated an outstanding 80 goals and 44 assists across 160 appearances for the Gunners. After establishing himself amongst the Premier League's elite following a three-year spell at Barcelona, where he claimed every major honour except the Champions League, then-United manager Jose Mourinho came knocking in 2018.

In an unusual transfer arrangement, United and Arsenal, who meet on Sunday in their opening Premier League fixture of the campaign, chose to execute a swap deal, with Sanchez heading to Manchester, whilst Henrikh Mkhitaryan travelled in the reverse direction.

Before the transfer was finalised, Sanchez had found the net seven times in 19 league matches, a respectable yet modest beginning for the winger considering he had struck 24 goals the previous campaign. In a huge decline in performance, Sanchez then managed just two additional league strikes for the remainder of the season.

He concluded his opening six months as a Red Devil with three goals across 18 matches in all competitions. Speaking in 2020, Sanchez confessed he was optimistic about becoming a United player but those feelings were quickly shattered after merely one training session.

"I accepted the opportunity to go to United, it felt tempting, and it was something good for me," he said. "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 was something that didn't sit right, it didn't seem good. But I had 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."

Sanchez's second campaign at United, which would prove to be his last, was even more disappointing than his inaugural season. He netted just one league goal across 20 appearances and found himself relegated to the substitutes' bench for large portions of the campaign.

Following his omission from the squad for an away fixture against West Ham due to his failure to find the net in the opening six league matches of the season, Sanchez revealed that Mourinho's choice to sideline him severely damaged his self-belief.

"In a game with West Ham, I wasn't picked," Sanchez continued. "That had never happened to me as a player. It bothered me, and I said it couldn't be possible. To go from being one of the best in the Premier League to not playing in five months. I came to my house, and I was very sad. The next day, I trained in a double shift because I love what I do."

United's hierarchy decided to end the unsuccessful venture, loaning Sanchez to Inter Milan in 2019 before he made the move permanent a year later. He then had a stint with Marseille before rejoining Inter in 2023 for a single season, subsequently securing a move back to Udinese, his first European club after departing his native Chile.

Story Saved

You can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.