No better man to greet a Manchester United arrival….
Before meeting any of his new teammates, United-bound Alexis Sanchez was greeted by Sir Alex Ferguson as he put the finishing touches on his January transfer from Arsenal.
With his Gunners contract set to expire in the summer, Sanchez is expected to become a United player in the next day or two, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan going in the opposite direction.
According to Manchester Evening News, the Chile international arrived at Old Trafford on Monday morning to finish dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.
IT'S HAPPENING! pic.twitter.com/ph00K2olf0
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) January 22, 2018
And who was there to meet Sanchez but Ferguson, who delivered 13 Premier Leagues to the Red Devils in his legendary tenure in the United dugout.
Fergie famously tried to sign Sanchez when the forward was at Udinese but decided against it, with Sanchez instead moving to Barcelona and scoring 47 goals in 141 appearances for the Catalan giants.
“We have looked at Sanchez and he has impressed us, as have other players,” Ferguson was quoted as telling the News of the World in 2010. “He has had very good games and is an interesting project.
Sanchez gets welcomed to OT today by Alex Ferguson. People trying to think of a reason why he chose United over City… Imagine he showed up at the Etihad and Richard Dunne welcomes him.
— Joe Campbell (@joecam10) January 22, 2018
“We have gathered some background, as with other footballers at his level, but nothing more than this for the moment.
“We have watched some Chileans in the past. The most interesting case was that of Salas, who had a brilliant World Cup [at France ’98] but he was at Lazio.
“We would have liked to have had him.”
