It has now been well over a year since Alexis Sanchez made the sensational decision to swap North London for Manchester, but close to 40 games later in a different shade of red, the Chilean is no way near to looking like the £350,000-per-week player United donated Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Arsenal for.
The 30-year-old is far from a first choice name on the team-sheet under Red Devils interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who said this week in the wake of the Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain at Old Trafford, in which Sanchez featured off the bench, “I can’t do anything about [him]. When he plays he needs to find himself.”
Now, another Gunners icon, Marc Overmars has lamented on Sanchez’ decision to leave Arsenal at the beginning of 2018 after four years, but interestingly suggested that the forward’s path could very benefit from a return down South;
“I have great respect for Alexis, because he did extremely well in Arsenal, I do not know if it was a good decision to leave “.
Overmars, a much beloved figure with the Arsenal contingent after a three-year trophy-riddled spell in the late ‘90s and now director of football at Ajax, was in conversation with ADN Deportes;
English football changes you, it turns you around, it took me a step forward. Arsene Wenger arrived a year before me, Dennis Bergkamp made a big impression English, it was a fantastic time, I think we changed the history of the club a bit.
This type of players were very important for Arsenal, because that’s where they take you to focus, after Alexis, Arsenal tried to sign another player like that, but he was not given, so he could go back to Arsenal.
Sanchez was the key man for Arsenal over his four years, with a tally of 80 goals and 45 assists in close to 170 appearances, marking him out as one of the Premier League’s deadliest marksmen.
At Manchester United however, despite his brobdingnagian salary, Sanchez has looked a pale imitation of his former self, returning just five strikes since his switch. His current contract at United runs until 2022, meaning he could potentially rake in over £80million from his time at Old Trafford.
Arsenal fans, how would you feel about the return of Sanchez?