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Football

22nd Jan 2018

Alexis Sanchez: “My dream was to play for Manchester United”

He told Sir Alex Ferguson all about it years ago

Darragh Murphy

It’s a dream come true for Alexis Sanchez.

We wonder what Sanchez’s interview would have sounded like had Manchester United not beaten Manchester City to the punch for the Chile international’s signature.

City were firm favourites to snatch up Sanchez in January on the cheap before the Red Devils elbowed their way into negotiations with a vastly improved wage offer for the player and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as an incentive for the Gunners.

Sanchez is now United’s newest No. 7, thanks in no small part to a conversation with Gunners legend Thierry Henry, and he’s maintained that it’s always been a goal of his to represent the home side at Old Trafford.

“Since I was a boy I’ve always said my dream was to play for Manchester United,” Sanchez told MUTV. “I’m not saying that because I’m here now… I always said as a kid that I’d like to play for United, and I once spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson about it.

“We chatted for around twenty minutes. And I told him that it was my dream to come here to United.”

Ferguson famously tried to sign Sanchez for United back in 2010 but the player eventually went to Barcelona, where he won the La Liga title and Copa del Rey.

And while we don’t often see players move directly from Arsenal to arch-rivals United nowadays, Sanchez maintains that all it took was one glance at his new club’s badge for him to make up his mind.

Sanchez said: “I looked at the badge and my hairs just stood up on end because it’s a powerful club and the biggest in England.”