“Isolated, bored, ignored.”
Alexis Sanchez wants to leave Manchester United and Jose Mourinho regrets signing the Chilean forward, according to a report in The Times.
Last January, Sanchez was signed as part of a swap deal that took Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Arsenal.
United reportedly made the former Barcelona star the highest-paid player in the Premier League and his arrival was greeted with widespread joy and excitement from fans of the club.
Manchester City were expected to sign Sanchez until United made a late move for him.
It appeared that Mourinho had landed the missing piece to mount a challenge against City.
However, almost a year later, Sanchez reportedly wants to leave and it doesn’t sound like anyone at the club would miss him.
Here's @RobRedmond10 on the Alex Ferguson tactic that could get the best out of Sanchez https://t.co/eWydKr3RM5
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 24, 2018
According to the report:
- Sanchez wants to leave for Paris Saint-Germain. He has struggled to settle at the club and in Manchester.
- He misses the “buzz” of living in a capital city. He has also been “deeply affected” by the end of his relationship with former girlfriend Mayte Rodriguez.
- Mourinho isn’t pleased with Sanchez’s performances since his arrival. He considers his dip in form to be a “mystery.”
- The forward is “disheartened” with Mourinho’s style of management and his tactical approach.
- He finds it puzzling that he is praised by his manager for tracking back, rather than when he creates something in the final third.
- The word around United is that Sanchez has been “average” since joining the club.
- Like at Arsenal, he hasn’t integrated with the squad at Old Trafford. He speaks to David de Gea, Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku, but few other United players.
- The squad don’t consider him to be a “team player” and have grown tired of him constantly demanding the ball.
- He complained about his legs being cold after a fridge was placed beside his locker in the dressing room.
The report also claims that Mourinho has admitted in private that he wishes that the club had signed Ivan Perisic instead of Sanchez.
Sanchez has scored only four goals in 28 games for United. He looks lost on the field and plays as though his teammates are strangers.
Some have argued that the player, who turns 30 in December, is experiencing the early stages of decline. While others suggest that he simply not suited to playing under Mourinho and his reactive tactics.
Sanchez was averaging 3.6 shots a game at Arsenal. He is averaging just 1.6 shots a game for United.
But, regardless of the root cause of Sanchez’s poor form, there is no doubt that he now looks a shadow of the player that excelled for the Gunners.
He looks to have become an extremely-expensive error for United.
It also appears that all parties – United, Mourinho and Sanchez – would benefit if the player was to join PSG.
