Alexis Sanchez to Man United: The latest claims

To save you the bother of reading all the latest updates…

 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: This is the big one, with Matt Law claiming that ‘Alexis Sanchez has agreed a four-and-a-half-year contract worth £14million after tax to join Manchester United’. This has prompted some confusion. Does he mean £14m in total? That would leave the weekly wages way too low. So he must mean £14m per year, which would see him around £500,000 a week before tax. Wow.

The claim is that ‘Sanchez is now just waiting to find out if Henrikh Mkhitaryan will agree a switch in the other direction to Arsenal, which would trigger his move to Old Trafford’. If he is earning £500,000 a week on top of a reported £20m signing-on fee, he can surely afford to bung him a few quid to speed up the process.

THE GUARDIAN: Jamie Jackson has clearly got his story from somebody with Jose Mourinho’s best interests at heart as he claims that ‘Manchester United could buy Alexis Sánchez from Arsenal even if Henrikh Mkhitaryan refuses to move the other way’.

‘Mourinho believes that given the club’s robust finances Woodward could still sanction a move for a player who would potentially vastly improve United.’ So basically Mourinho wants to put the ball in United’s court and take all the power away from Mkhitaryan and Mino Raiola, which is hardly a surprise.

 

THE INDEPENDENT: Miguel Delaney’s version of events falls somewhere between the two stools; he writes ‘the general terms of Alexis Sanchez’s move to Manchester United from Arsenal have now been agreed’. Although he acknowledges that Mkhitaryan is a factor he says that ‘there is still an expectation United will eventually sign Sanchez whatever happens’.

 

EVENING STANDARD: ‘Arsenal’s players want Alexis Sanchez’s proposed move to Manchester United concluded before Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace,’ writes James Olley.

‘It is believed Sanchez has become an increasingly divisive figure as he continues to agitate for a transfer,’ says the report, which goes on to claim that although a deal without Mkhitaryan is possible, Wenger would prefer to include the Armenian in any deal, though he may be hamstrung in wage negotiations by the £300,000-a-week they offered Sanchez to stay.

 

MAILONLINE: ‘Jose Mourinho arrived at Manchester United’s training ground on Wednesday morning as he closes in on adding Alexis Sanchez to his squad.’

Because what is football journalism in 2018 but a series of photos of a man in a car arriving at a training ground?

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