In January 2018, the Chilean was on the finish of his time in north London and finally signed for Manchester United in an trade for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.However that was after his lengthy flirtation with Metropolis, which included fixed communcation with Pep Guardiola, his outdated boss at Barcelona.Sanchez has insisted that cash was not the explanation for him becoming a member of United over Metropolis – given they supplied the identical quantity – as as a substitute it was an unnamed participant rejecting a transfer to Arsenal.“I used to be about to go to Metropolis,” he’s quoted by The Solar as saying. Learn Extra“I spoke to Guardiola daily, he wished me pleased birthday. He was like my father. He was my father at Barcelona and he was like my father at Metropolis.“We talked, we talked daily, he despatched me messages. And all the things was prepared, there was a participant who was going to go to Arsenal.“Then [Arsene] Wenger tells me you aren’t leaving as a result of the opposite participant didn’t wish to come and they don’t have one other.“All of a sudden the cellphone rings. [Jose] Mourinho tells me, ‘Alexis, now we have the seven [shirt] obtainable for you’.”Mkhitaryan loved a fairly constructive 18 months at Arsenal whereas Sanchez additionally lasted for less than a short while at Previous Trafford.Whereas he doesn’t title the participant who turned down the Gunners, potential candidates in that 12 months’s Metropolis squad embrace Eliaquim Mangala, Fabian Delph and John Stones – who was linked with a transfer away that 12 months.