Alexis Sanchez’s ‘#7’ shirt has smashed Manchester United’s record for jersey sales for a January signing.
Sanchez signed for United last month in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan which saw the Armenian head to the Emirates with Sanchez coming the other way to Old Trafford.
🎹 Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. Introducing #Alexis7…#GGMU #MUFC @Alexis_Sanchez pic.twitter.com/t9RIIx4mE4
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 22, 2018
Sanchez’s signing video was liked 211k times on Twitter and re-tweeted more than 158k times.
United executive vice-chair Ed Woodward said that Sanchez’s unveiling broke multiple social media records and generated 75 per cent more interactions than the announcement of the sale of the world’s most-expensive player last summer when Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.
Speaking during a conference call with investors following the publication of the club’s second-quarter reports for 2017-18, Woodward said:
“Alexis Sanchez has set a new January signing record in terms of shirt sales, three times the previous record.
“This trade generated some interesting social media stats,” Woodward said. “It was the biggest United post on Instagram with two million likes and comments, the most shared United Facebook post ever, the most retweeted United post ever, and the hashtag #Alexis7 was the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide.
“To put that into context, the announcement posts generated 75 per cent more interactions than the announcement of the sale of the world’s most-expensive player last summer when Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.”
In less welcoming news, Sanchez has reportedly accepted a 16-month prison sentence after defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of almost €1 million (£890k).
He recognised that he falsified the sale of his image rights to a foreign company in order to avoid paying tax.
As part of a deal reached with authorities, he has agreed to pay back all of the money he owes, along with interest, to the Spanish treasury.
The 29-year-old was given a 19-month prison suspended sentence, but as he will pay the money back, he will not serve any time in jail.
