Alexis Sanchez has given a candid account of his time at Old Trafford and said that he asked his agent if he could leave Manchester United and return to Arsenal after his first training session.
During an Instagram video, the former Barcelona and Udinese striker gave his side of the story about his failed move to Old Trafford from Arsenal in 2018, which saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan head in the opposite direction.
Despite earning £391,000 a week with an extra £75,000 for every game he plays and an annual £1.1m signing-on fee, Sanchez never managed to find any consistent form in his two-year spell at United, scoring only five goals in 45 appearances, before being moved on to Inter.
In a video posted on his Instagram, Sanchez said:
"I accepted the opportunity to go to United, it felt tempting and it was something good for me, I liked this club a lot when I was a kid. Eventually, I signed but I didn't ask for information on what was happening inside the club.
"Sometimes there are things that you don't realise until you get there, and I remember the first training session I had, I realised a lot of things. After the session I got home and I told my family and my agent 'can you not rip up the contract to go back to Arsenal?'. They laughed, I told them there's something that doesn't sit right, it doesn't seem good.
"But I already signed, I was already there. After the first few months I carried on having the same feeling, we weren't united as a team in that moment."
The striker also feels that he was made the scapegoat by journalists as Jose Mourinho's side struggled for form.
"I'm telling you my experience, the journalists at times would speak without knowing the facts and it hurt, they had no idea what was going on inside the club.
"They said it was my fault, and this, and that, but sometimes a player depends on the environment, the family that is created around him, and I think that in that moment we weren't really a family.
"And that translated onto the pitch, and since there needed to be someone to blame, they blamed me."
One game sticks in the mind of the Chilean and it's when he was dropped for United's 3-1 defeat to West Ham, it appears that he still has an axe to grind with Mourinho for that decision.
"I remember a game against West Ham, I wasn't picked and that never happened during my career. That changed a lot, it really bothered me and that day I told myself that it couldn't be possible to go from one of the best players in the Premier League to that in the space of five months.
"That bothered me a little, I got home and I was very sad for what happened, the next day I put in a double training session - as I've always been, I demand the best from myself in my job, I love what I do, I like football a lot."
After originally joining Inter on loan, Sanchez scored four goals in 29 appearances in all competitions and he was also involved in their run to the Europa League final.
As for United's immediate future, they'll be hoping to start their Premier League campaign with a win when they host Crystal Palace on September 19.
SEE ALSO: 'Sanchez Complained About His Legs Getting Cold Because Of A Fridge Next To His Locker'
