Manchester United executives “regret” signing Alexis Sanchez, according to a report in Spain.
The report claims that United executives are worried that Sanchez’s transfer from Arsenal, which reportedly made him the highest-paid player in the Premier League, will cut into the club’s profit margin.
It also claims that the transfer has “generated tension in the locker room”, and has upset Paul Pogba
Diego Torres, a football journalist for Spanish newspaper El Pais, penned the report. Torres appears to have well-placed sources at clubs throughout Europe. He is the author of The Special One: The Dark Side of José Mourinho, which covers Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid, and has had several reports on Neymar’s time at Paris Saint-Germain.
Mourinho dismissed the book on his tenure as Madrid manager as a piece of fiction, and Neymar and PSG would probably do likewise about Torres’ reports on the club. But he is worth reading, and his report on United is quite interesting.
According to the report:
- United executives in attendance at the Premier League’s television rights auction earlier this month in London “confessed to their colleagues at other clubs” that Mourinho has turned the club’s accounting “upside down” with his signings.
- They “regret” signing Sanchez from Arsenal, in a swap deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan move to the Gunners. They now feel the transfer was done at an “excessive expense”.
- Torres claims it has also disrupted the harmony in the dressing room, causing “tension”, and breaking United’s salary structure.
- Mourinho was “obsessed” with “stripping Guardiola of the player he wanted (Sanchez).”
- Premier League clubs will recieve less money for the domestic TV rights deal when the next cycle starts in 2019, and this has prompted United’s accountants to warn the owners that “the uncontrolled growth of expenses, especially salaries, is reducing margins and causing losses.”
- When Sanchez joined United, Torres claims that Mino Raiola, Paul Pogba’s agent, pushed for his client to receive a pay increase. He had previously been the best-paid player in the league, and feels he should be earning more than Sanchez.
- This has coincided with Pogba reportedly realising that Mourinho’s tactics do not “guarantee titles and prestige”, and he is said to be disappointed that he has not been granted more freedom on the pitch.
- According to Torres, Mourinho responded by deploying “his usual shock therapy” by substituting and subsequently dropping Pogba.
Of course, as with any report, we should take this one with a pinch of salt. United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward boasted about the signing of Sanchez in a recent conference call. Mourinho would undoubtedly deny the claims made, as would Pogba and Raiola. But it makes for interesting reading from someone with well-placed sources.
You can read the full report here.
