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24th Jan 2018

“Henry never told me to leave” – Alexis Sanchez follows up on initial statement

Robert Redmond

“Someday it would be nice to see him as the Arsenal coach because he loves the club.”

Alexis Sanchez has addressed suggestions that Thierry Henry told him to leave Arsenal. After the Chilean joined Manchester United in a swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan on Monday, he said in an Instagram post that he had spoken to the Arsenal legend. Sanchez referenced Henry’s decision to leave Arsenal for Barcelona in 2007 in relation to his own decision to depart the Emirates for Old Trafford.

“I remember today, a conversation I had with Henry, who changed club for the same reason and today is my turn,” he wrote on Instagram.

This didn’t go down well with some Arsenal fans, who thought this meant Henry had advised Sanchez to leave the club for United. Henry denied any such suggestion on Tuesday evening.

“At no time did I tell Alexis Sanchez to leave Arsenal. I had no idea he was going to sign for Man Utd until I saw it on the news like the rest of you.”

https://twitter.com/ThierryHenry/status/955927342437883904

Sanchez has also denied that Henry told him to leave the club, and sent out a tweet of his own on Tuesday morning, writing:

“I want to clarify that Henry never told me to leave the club, it was a personal decision … He loves the club and someday it would be nice to see him as the Arsenal coach because he loves the club.”

Sanchez’s demeanour in his final year at Arsenal suggests that he was determined to leave the club, so it’s extremely unlikely that Henry had anything to do with the move.

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