Former Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez was a fan favourite at the Emirates Stadium, but he angered fans over the circumstances of his exit.
Sanchez was outstanding following his arrival from Barcelona in 2014. The Chilean arrived as a superstar signing, as the second-most expensive player in Arsenal’s history at the time, where he joined up with record arrival Mesut Ozil.
In three and a half years, Sanchez scored 80 goals in 166 games, whilst also providing 43 assists, and this included two cup final strikes as Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2015 and 2017.
However, January 2018 was a time of huge change for Arsenal, in what was Arsene Wenger’s final transfer window at the club, and Alexis departed for Manchester United in an ill-fated swap deal as Henrikh Mkhitaryan came the other way.
Both players flopped at their new clubs, but remarkably both won Serie A with Inter Milan together last season.
Alexis’ time at Old Trafford was a nightmare, to the extent that he revealed he wanted to leave after his first training session.
Alexis Sanchez wanted Arsenal return immediately after joining Manchester United
Speaking in 2020, Sanchez revealed that he wanted to return to Arsenal almost immediately after joining Manchester United, in what was a disastrous career decision from him.
“I accepted the opportunity to go to United, it felt tempting and it was something good for me, I liked this club a lot when I was a kid,” he told Chilean TV.
“Eventually I signed but I didn’t ask for information on what was happening inside the club.”
Sanchez scored just five goals in 45 games for Man United before departing 18 months later, and he clearly regretted leaving Arsenal.
“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’s something that doesn’t sit right, it doesn’t seem good.
“But I 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.”
Alexis Sanchez could now make dream return to Udinese
Fabrizio Romano has now revealed that Alexis, who is now a free agent, could return to his former club Udinese this summer.
“Udinese have sent their formal contract proposal to Alexis Sánchez to bring him back to the club. Sánchez, available as free agent and set to make final decision soon,” he posted on X.
Before he joined Barcelona, Alexis broke onto the scene in Serie A with Udinese, with 21 goals and 20 assists in 112 games as a youngster.
His time there also saw him head out on loan spells to River Plate and Colo Colo, but by the time he left, he was a fan favourite at the Italian side.
10 years after he moved from Barcelona to Arsenal, where he had the best spell of his career in terms of individual form, Sanchez may now make a return to the first club he played for in European football.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
