How Manchester United landed a 'once in a generation bargain' in Alexis Sanchez
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Manchester United landed a 'once in a generation' bargain by signing Alexis Sanchez, according to former Liverpool director Christian Purslow.
Sanchez, 29 swapped the Emirates for Old Trafford in January, having looked like being headed for rivals Manchester City.
But in a coup hailed as "fantastic" by Jose Mourinho, the Red Devils landed Sanchez in a swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
"We will never quite know the sequence of events that led to that potential transaction winding away into a United purchase," Purslow told Sky Sports News .
(Image: AFP)
"It has the look from the outside, I don't know this to be true, that Arsenal out of nowhere had their dreams come true.
"Rather than being in a unilateral discussion with City taking their best player nearly on a free, they had a little auction going when Mourinho and Antonio Conte both spoke up in early January that actually getting Sanchez was a once in a generation opportunity to buy a top player for not much money down.
(Image: Man Utd via Getty Images)
"I think Arsenal suddenly had a little auction going. I suspect when Sanchez's agent said to Manchester City's executive team: 'you might have to improve my deal up a bit because United are here' - that [would have] felt like a breach in trust.
"They thought they had a handshake deal at best. I bet they were very angry about that and I suspect they thought actually let's walk away from this deal leaving Manchester United to sweep him up.
"Brilliant outcome for United, pretty good outcome for Arsenal on balance but I suspect not a very happy camp at City around the way that deal was conducted."