Was the signing of Alexis Sanchez a mistake for Manchester United?
Alexis Sanchez, the professional Chilean Footballer dubbed as “El Niño Maravilla” or the Wonder Child has recently been transferred to Manchester United, however in his first 8 games for the Manchester club he has only scored one goal and many people are considering whether United signing Sanchez was a mistake.
His career began at the age of 17, playing for Cobreloa and after a season, moving to Italy and playing for Udinese in 2006. However, his most known moments of his career were his time at Barcelona after his transfer which was worth £25 million, making him the most expensive Chilean player and also becoming a part of the attacking trio alongside Lionel Messi and David Villa. Soon Arsenal spent £31.7 million on him on the 10th of July 2014 to take Sanchez. He became the leader of the team by completing every season with goals and assists in the double digits. Yet, due to Arsenal not being able to place top 4 last season, Alexis lost sight of his future with the club.
Sanchez signed for Manchester on the 22nd of January this year and was swapped with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He agreed to a 4 and a half year contract at Old Trafford for an estimated £350k a week while Mkhitaryan is now with Arsenal until 2021 after only having joined around a year and a half ago from Dortmund. Both managers were happy with their deal, Wenger stated that he believes that they (Arsenal) have lost a world class player but gained another in return.
Sanchez stated on one of many instagram posts: “I am fulfilling a dream that I have since I was a kid: to play for the world’s best team,” and Henrikh gave his thanks to the players and staff of Manchester, showing that both players are quite happy with the act.
Alexis gained the legendary number 7, a mark for the Striker/ winger but also is one of the most iconic shirt numbers for the Red Devils. However Sanchez has been struggling recently, he gave the ball away on 20 instances and has so far only scored one goal and has had 8 appearances in total.
Football expert Charlie Nicholas says “Sanchez, at the moment, does not deserve to be in the team…” Charlie explains how, since Sanchez’s arrival, Manchester United’s formation has been ruined and squeezed to fit Sanchez. He feels that there is no fluency in the team nor is there a rhythm to the game. He adds: “I’m sure a lot of Manchester United fans must be looking and saying ‘when is he going to do something for us?’”