Inter Milan forward Alexis Sanchez has lamented a lack of playing time as the root cause for his woeful stint at Manchester United.
In an interview with BBC Sport, Alexis Sanchez has rued the fact that he did not get enough game time to prove himself at Manchester United. The Chilean international insisted he does not regret joining the Red Devils, but was left dismayed by the lack of playing time coming his way.
Sanchez joined Manchester United from Arsenal in a swap deal of disastrous proportions, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan heading the other way. The move did not work out at all, with Sanchez a pale shadow of his domineering self at the North London club.
In the 18 months Sanchez spent at Old Trafford, he managed a paltry return of 5 goals and 9 assists in 45 appearances. And, even though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had previously insisted that the Chilean had a role to play for Manchester United this season, he was heavily linked with a move to Serie A giants Inter Milan.
For a brief period, it had appeared that Sanchez’s proposed move to Inter could have been off, with Anthony Martial being sidelined with a thigh injury. But, with the Frenchman set to return after the international break, the 30-year-old got to complete his switch to San Siro, joining the Nerazzurri for the remainder of the season.
Sanchez has finally opened up on his disappointing time at Manchester United, which still has not ended for good, insisting that he does not regret joining the club. But, the Chilean international was left distressed by a lack of playing time, which he pinpointed as the reason for his woeful showings at Old Trafford.
“I’m very happy I went to Manchester United. I’ve always said that. It’s the club that’s won the most in England. When I went to Arsenal it was fantastic – I was happy there – but United were growing at the time, they were buying players to win something. I wanted to join them and win everything. I don’t regret going there.”
“I think that I’m happy when I play for my national team. I was happy at Manchester United too, but I’ve always said to my friends: I want to play. If they would let me play I’ll do my best. Sometimes I’d play 60 minutes then I wouldn’t play the next game – and I didn’t know why.”
Sanchez is right to an extent, considering he never managed to be a regular in his first full season at Manchester United. But, injuries as well as a lack of consistency did contribute to his downfall too. At Inter Milan, he now has the chance to prove that he has not run out of steam just yet. And who knows, he might just have a future at Manchester United at the end of his loan spell.
