Mourinho reveals Sanchez was so close to signing for City

Jose Mourinho has revealed how close Alexis Sanchez was to signing for city rivals Manchester City.

The Chilean was “one-and-a-half feet” in at City before Manchester United swooped in to snap the Arsenal star up, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan going the other way.

Sanchez was close to completing a deal worth around £60million to join Pep Guardiola’s side on deadline day in August, but Arsenal blocked the move when they couldn’t find a replacement.

City came back in January, but reportedly baulked at the fees and wages that were being demanded, allowing Mourinho to complete the swoop.

Twitter: We are delighted to announce the signing of @Alexis_Sanchez from Arsenal.
Full details: https://t.co/nUitNnNbV9 https://t.co/S3ft22e7Jo (@ManUtd)

Mourinho, who signed a new contract today until 2020, explained how close Sanchez was to joining the league leaders instead of the Red Devils. Talking to MUTV, Mourinho said;

I want to make it clear it was not me. Totally the credit is for the owners and the board. They did it – a player like Alexis Sanchez.

It looks like it is difficult for people to say, ‘Well done, you did it in a fantastic way’. He was with one-and-a-half feet in another club.

It looks like it is hard to give credit when we win matches there is always an ‘If’. When a player does fantastically well there is always a negative. But the reality is without Manchester United the industry would be in trouble, this is part of being at such a big club.

Mourinho’s will take charge of his 100th game with United against Yeovil Town on Friday, and he now looks likely to hit more milestones over the coming years.

This is despite claims back in October that the Portuguese boss was open to departing Old Trafford, with Paris Saint-Germain named as one potential destination.

However the former Chelsea coach explained that he has no intention on leaving, and that his comments were explaining that he thinks it is hard in today’s environment to establish a long legacy with a club, like Sir Alex Ferguson did before him. He said;

I am here for a long, long time but I started really, really young, I’m not as old as people think. I’m 55 [on Friday] but I feel myself that I am very young.

So when a few months ago I told impossible to end my career at Manchester United what I was trying to say is that modern football it is almost impossible to stay 10-15 years.

I was not saying I was going to leave but I want to work 10-15 years more. I like to do it and I don’t see myself doing another thing.