Alexis Sanchez - Inter Watch

[crossy1686]

Is there any evidence that Sanchez was a disruptive influence in the dressing room? He was crap on the pitch, but I never saw any suggestion he was unprofessional. Mourinho on the other hand definetly was a toxic influence. Publically so. And Solskjaer didn't fancy Sanchez as he wants to focus on younger players, so he moved him on. I don't see where the hate comes from really.

A lot of the talk around “I’d rather have a hole in my squad than an arsehole” was off the back of Sanchez getting a move to Inter. It wasn’t directly about him but Mitten asked Solskjaer about letting him go without signing a replacement and Solskjaer unprompted came out with that, but I think he meant panic signing to replace more than Sanchez was an arsehole.

Also, Solskjaer has said (through Mitten) the decision to move Sanchez on was made when Greenwood made a hard tackle on him in training and he reacted badly to it. He knew then he wasn’t a team player and only cared about his interests.

So it would appear that Sanchez just isn’t the right fit for a team like United where the focus is the team doing well and not the individual.

 

[Dec9003]

It’s funny that the first thing Solskjaer did to do that was get rid of Sanchez and his best mate Lukaku.

Yeah, I doubt Solskjaer was too fussed when Alexis said he wanted to go to inter.

 

[iHicksy]

Reading Sanchez's explanation it doesn't sound as bad as the quotes themselves. However, there are always two sides.

He's certainly right about the dressing room dynamic not being right and Jose was responsible for splitting it even further and created a hostile and unenjoyable environment. However, the seeds of that discourse were already there in LvG's tenure - Jose just made them even worse and more public. Sanchez cannot blame his failure on this alone. His attitude played a huge part in his own downfall. He can make no excuses for not making it since Ole came in. Since his reason for leaving was United not being a United team and family. Well, they are. And were, the minute Ole took charge. Yet Sanchez still asked to mope off to Italy instead of trying to cement his place in the team. Clearly his attitude towards Greenwood was the real catalyst for him leaving and Ole simply didn't want another toxic personality in the squad.

It was well document that at Arsenal Sanchez would eat alone, not socialise, and retreat to his home and dogs where he was happiest. There's nothing wrong with that. But, it certainly sounds odd for someone who's known to be a loner claiming that the "family" aspect of the team missing was his downfall. Especially since now, that is one of this teams greatest strengths and Ole's greatest achievement in uniting a fracture dressing room.

 

[Infestissumam]

it's a shame that even big news outlets will happily rip the "after the first training session ..." part out of context in order to generate clicks. I know, that's the world we live in, but still pisses me off. Reading the full quotes paints a completely different picture, and I for one am not surprised to hear that it was a toxic atmosphere. Thank god we got rid of Mourinho at some point.

 

[Offside]

The geography has nothing to do with it imo.

Yeah I can’t see how it would it’s just a funny coincidence.

 

[Offside]

Bollocks, Anderson loved the club and still does. As did Rafael and Fabio.

Anderson never lived up to his potential though.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Sky’s version of the interview is butchered to make it sound much worse.
There’s probably a lot of truth in what Alexis actually said, the squad lacked togetherness and there was a lot of bad stuff behind the scenes which isn’t news to us really. The one thing Solskjaer seems to have done successfully is getting the club all moving in the same direction, and he’s not made any signings that would rock the boat in a bad way; which Alexis ended up being. I do like José, but I imagine when he goes into toxic mode it must be a nightmare being one of his players.

Agreed. Now the episode is over, Sanchez is away at a club he prefers, we've got him off the wage bill and look a happier, more together club hopefully on an upward trajectory it's much easier for us to take the high road on this and the Lukaku saga. When you're in the midst of it, with everything looking so wrong and the vast sums of money being flashed up gleefully by the media highlighting how little quality we're getting for the sum of our parts, it's natural to start disliking the people involved at least on some level, and that isn't a nice place to be.

Now it's over we can say the transfer was appalling, a textbook case of what not to do. The player was neither physically nor mentally ready to do for us what we expected of him, we made the signing seemingly to hijack the City deal and just blindly hoped we were getting the world class attacker that had been at Arsenal a year or so before and the squad itself was a Frankenstein's monster with many of the players looking fed up with Jose (and indeed the feeling very much looked mutual).

The beauty of the ridiculous wages is that we don't have to feel too sorry for Alexis. On a certain level we failed him by being a basket case, but he failed us by being very shit. Wrong player, wrong club, wrong transfer, but it's over now, time to move on.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Anderson never lived up to his potential though.

He showed more balls in the UCL final than Sanchez ever could, that'll do for me

 

[BorisManUtd]

See as much as some still aren’t convinced about Ole, no one will be saying that now. Mourinho and LVG created toxic atmospheres 100%

Think the atmosphere under Mourinho started getting worse around December 2017-January 2018, when he was pushing for new, improved contract with his journalists making rumours about PSG interest. That was also time when City and Pep beat us in derby and went 11 points clear so believe Jose's ego was hurt as he was still considered top manager and one who can stop Pep from winning the PL. Then even when he got new contract things seem to haven't improved and Sevilla games were beginning of the end.

Alexis should have done better, can't blame it on others as he was here some 6 months after Jose left and still was average most of the games under Ole. It's still interesting to read as an insight to what was happening at the club at time. It looked toxic from the outside and it was like that really.

 

[izec]

South American’s generally don’t seem to get on at United it’s a weird but definite trend.

Veron, Forlan, Kleberson, Anderson, Di Maria, Falcao, Rojo, Sanchez - all of them failed to live up to the hype or were dog shit. Heinze, Tevez were good but it ended badly. Practically all of those players we are bitter/resentful towards as a fan base and vice-versa.

Exceptions are Rafael, Valencia and Romero.

I dont think that Veron, Forlan, Anderson or Falcao are resentful or bitter towards United or the fanbase or the other way around. That some didn't like the weather, city or culture, fair enough, but the fans or the club? Not really. Anderson and Forlan spoke highly of it recently

 

[Rolaholic]

Rafael is a treasure

Still sad he never got a fair shake under LVG but neither did so many players unfortunately

 

[Joseunited]

Yeah, can someone translate a few more seconds...does he suggest a reason why!?

What could of possibly happened in his first training session?

He said morning to Mourinho.

 

[arthurka]

Nothing wrong with what he said, this club was toxic under Mourinho. Glad Ole took over really this club needed fixing in a big way to get back to its roots.

 

[DoomSlayer]

Rafael is a treasure

Still sad he never got a fair shake under LVG but neither did so many players unfortunately

No way this is real?!?

 

[El Zoido]

Rafael is a treasure

Still sad he never got a fair shake under LVG but neither did so many players unfortunately

Rafa is a proper red! DGAF, ever.

 

[Kostov]

Maybe I'm misremembering then. I thought his performances went off the boil because his first season was really impressive by comparison (s).

He definitely was worse in his second season, but that was already happening with Jose her and him not being benched despite that. After Ole came in, the same thing happened with Rashford and Ole stuck by it just like Mourinho did with Lukaku. He was the same Romelu as usual imo, I don't remember him being disruptive or disrespectful during the season.

 

[Acole9]

Rafael is my hero.

 

[jem]

I dont think that Veron, Forlan, Anderson or Falcao are resentful or bitter towards United or the fanbase or the other way around. That some didn't like the weather, city or culture, fair enough, but the fans or the club? Not really. Anderson and Forlan spoke highly of it recently

Yeah I’d say only Di Maria and Sánchez seem remotely bitter, and you wonder if either wanted to be here in the first place. I remember Falcao being very classy upon leaving.

 

[Lennon7]

I dont think that Veron, Forlan, Anderson or Falcao are resentful or bitter towards United or the fanbase or the other way around. That some didn't like the weather, city or culture, fair enough, but the fans or the club? Not really. Anderson and Forlan spoke highly of it recently

Not having it that South American’s struggle because of the city. A noticeable amount of South American’s live in Manchester - I’ve met them in beer gardens, gig queues and at the bar. They love the city. I’d say countries like Brazil are one of the most represented countries in Manchester.

Plus, it makes no sense for players like Aguero and Fernandinho to do so well at City but we rarely have star players from S. A. It is odd.

 

[Robertd0803]

Going by this clown's and Lukaku's comments, we can appreciate even more the effort Ole puts in trying to know if a player is really interested in playing for us.

Exactly.

Also just as well this came out now and not when Mourinho was in charge. Imagine the drama and headlines Regardless of Sanchez himself it paints a pretty bleak picture of what we were like at the time. Thankfully Ole seems to have developed a pretty decent team spirit and the air around the team seems a lot more positive in general.

 

[Snow]

I don’t. In all fairness to LvG, after he was burgled he allowed Di Maria time off to look after his family. He mentioned it by saying “these are human beings”.

Di Maria was just not very good and unhappy here but he wasn't unprofessional. Even Rooney has come to Di Maria's defense and pointed at LvG. LvG bought Di Maria and then told him to play differently than what he knew.

LvG did immense damage to the club, more so than Moyes as he was allowed more transfers and time to mess things up.

 

[tjb]

I don't remember this happening to be fair, he actually put some good performances at the end of his time here and only stain is his sulking or whatever he did in training during pre season.

Yeah, Lukaku actually played well for us. The gripe with him was simply his fit with us rather than his general performance.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Rafael is a treasure

Still sad he never got a fair shake under LVG but neither did so many players unfortunately

God I love Rafael

 

[SwedishFish]

Rafael is a treasure

Still sad he never got a fair shake under LVG but neither did so many players unfortunately

Future Club Ambassador.

 

[tjb]

That's what you get for signing non speaking english who doesn't get the club.

What Sanchez's taught us is that, ability is 2nd, personality is always the first thing to look out when signing for Manchester United.

Jose signed a player that ended his tenure. (Makes it even more evident that Mourinho doesn't understand one bit about United, heritage my arse.)

This. And its something a lot of fans don't understand. Having players and managers who truly understand, and therefore respect the club and its ethos is what has made us special over the years. LVG did not understand that and in turn he bought players that did not get it either. Same thing goes for Mourinho. Moyes was a poor manager, but I doubt that he would have been as bad in the transfer market and create the toxicity that LVG and Mourinho did. Those two tried to normalize the club to suit them. Ourselves, Bayern, Real and Barca are teams the have certain traditions, cultures and ethos that other teams don't have. Willfully attempting to normalize us for the short term gain of improving really hampered us for years. Barca should and usually only hire managers that play a specific way and in turn sign players that suit that style. Madrid mostly sign players that suit their galactico philosophy and are best when they have managers that know how to handle a high ego dressing room rather than a tactician. Bayern mostly hire German managers that understand the size and history of the club and in turn are best when they sign players that know that ( usually German). United are similar to that. We are best with a best fit model, with a manager who understands the size and history of the club. Because of that, refrains from toxic media and player entanglements and in turn signs players with the good character and understanding. It's the reason why our players wear the pregame uniforms. We aren't like other clubs and we should not try to be like them. We already have an identity that works and continues to work. Having a manager like Ole around shows the difference and may very well be the reason Fergie wanted a British successor. LVG and Mourinho were managers simply looking for ways to enhance their managerial legacies, Pep is similar. Ole, however, is here to make the team as successful as he possibly can, not for himself, but for the club.. That's the difference.

 

[tjb]

The striking point about the story for me is the obvious disadvantage of the transfer model of hijacking signings of other clubs (along with Di Maria). The club and and the said player is not able to do the due diligence and creates Sanchez like situations... Under Ole we have obviously completely changed this and we now do a very careful analysis of our targets. Instead of the erratic approach in transfer markets previously. Probably one reason why we should be vary of signing Thiago in a rush.

Something's a little off with the Thiago transfer request. He's so talented, and i know about his poor injury record, but the lack of interest in him is really weird. Is he demanding really high wages, because Bayern seem to be fine with letting him go. I'm really surprised that none of Barcelona, PSG, Juventus or even Man City are after him, given that these teams need upgrades on their midfielders, and in the case of Man City, Thiago fits in with the type of midfielder they would want. Why does he even want to leave Bayern?

 

[BlahRules]

Something's a little off with the Thiago transfer request. He's so talented, and i know about his poor injury record, but the lack of interest in him is really weird. Is he demanding really high wages, because Bayern seem to be fine with letting him go. I'm really surprised that none of Barcelona, PSG, Juventus or even Man City are after him, given that these teams need upgrades on their midfielders, and in the case of Man City, Thiago fits in with the type of midfielder they would want. Why does he even want to leave Bayern?

Bayern are not fine to let him go they don't have a choice but to let him go now then let him go for free.

Only reason why no other team are interested is because he is going to Liverpool but that can change like the Werner deal.

 

[MadDogg]

Yeah, Lukaku actually played well for us. The gripe with him was simply his fit with us rather than his general performance.

That's going a bit too far. Lukaku played well for the first half a season after joining. Second half of that season was decent - not particularly good but not bad either. Then he was absolutely atrocious for most of his second season (literally the worst regular starter in the league until Mourinho was fired IMO) before having an 'ok' spell for about a month under Ole then finishing the season fairly poorly again (albeit not as bad as he was earlier on).

 

[ChaddyP]

My little girl started a new school today. If she came home spouting the same shiz that Alexis has I would tell her to grow a pair and give it a chance.

 

[tjb]

Bayern are not fine to let him go they don't have a choice but to let him go now then let him go for free.

Only reason why no other team are interested is because he is going to Liverpool but that can change like the Werner deal.

But why is he going to Liverpool? It can't be as simple as he just is. We are talking about one of the best midfielders in the world here.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Id never understand why players say statement like those, from the ones I remember at the moment are Di Maria's, Lukaku's and now Alexis' I dont get why they do it. What do they win with this? only makes fans angry and make them seem a bit of unprofessional, if anything they should be grateful wih the club and say some generic "thankful" response about how things didnt worked out and it was the best for the two parts to part ways, etc.

Anyway Alexis, I think the feeling was mutual, feck you too we're all glad you left.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

You're a blinkered fecking clown, Alexis. You were crap that's why you got dropped.

 

[el3mel]

Di Maria was just not very good and unhappy here but he wasn't unprofessional. Even Rooney has come to Di Maria's defense and pointed at LvG. LvG bought Di Maria and then told him to play differently than what he knew.

LvG did immense damage to the club, more so than Moyes as he was allowed more transfers and time to mess things up.

Moyes did the most damage for me, because he was the one who turned us from title challengers into 7th placed time seeking top 4 at best in just one season. If we got the right manager and had the right market just after Fergie left, those last 7 years wouldn't have happened.

 

[BlahRules]

But why is he going to Liverpool? It can't be as simple as he just is. We are talking about one of the best midfielders in the world here.

Winning the UCL last season and now the EPL makes them an enticing team to play for. Let's be honest they've been playing good football for few years.

 

[shahzy]

Sad that it didnt work out. He doesnt seem to have any ill will and i don't either. Hopefully he can find himself again and enjoy the twilight of his career

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I still don't get the hate for Sanchez. Yes, he was underwhelming (putting it mildly) but the situation was quickly wrapped up and much less painful than some other transfer fallouts.

Lukaku was worse imo as he clearly downed tools and generally couldn't be arsed late into his united career. Di Maria too but that's an obvious one.

Lukaku actually performed for us. He did well for us in 17/18. Just wasn't the right fit and had a poor 18/19. Sanchez was rubbish throughout.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

There's two sides to this.

On the one hand, it's hardly surprising that Manchester United under Jose Mourinho's tutilage was not a place which fostered the development of footballers, strengthened their bond and effectively built a true collective. Mourinho at his peak despite his success wouldn't have been easy to work with so a past version would have been something you'd really want to endure. And course a player's state of mind influences their performances.

However, Sanchez wasn't merely someone who was struggling to elevate themsleves to top class levels like, say a Rashford or Martial were - players who had some terrific performances but couldn't kick on partly due to the environment or manager. He was absolutely jaw dropping dreadful. I mean, truly, utterly, rotten. And there's no excuse for that. As a top class professional footballer, there's a certain minimum level beneath which you cannot shift blame.

So yeah, Sanchez makes a fair point but it doesn't excuse the level he produced. He has to take a lot more responsibility for it even if other factors played their part.

 

[Lee565]

What a bs spouting twat, so he reckons he asked if he could rip up his contract after one day at the club but was happy to make things awkward for us to move him on because he cared more about his wage packet which shouldn't have been issue seeing as he supposedly happy to rip up his lucrative united contract.

The only thing it has highlighted is how aimless our transfer business has been for a majority of the time post fergie as we have had 3 or 4 cases now of players not really having their heart in being at the club for footballing reasons.

 

[Sandikan]

Seems quite shocking that both he and Lukaku have basically said the second they got in they were either unhappy, or thinking about leaving.

Hopefully a lot down to the Mourinho effect, and Solskajer is moving things to an an entirely different vibe.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Seems quite shocking that both he and Lukaku have basically said the second they got in they were either unhappy, or thinking about leaving.

Hopefully a lot down to the Mourinho effect, and Solskajer is moving things to an an entirely different vibe.

I think a lot of that is down to Mourinho’s effect on the team yeah. Bruno has spoken glowingly about his experience so far, as has Maguire. Pogba & Martial seem much happier now too.