Sanchez signs $1.15m-a-week deal

London: Alexis Sanchez insisted that he left Arsenal to win trophies and appeared to hit back at the critics who have branded him a “mercenary” as he finally completed his move to Manchester United yesterday.

Sanchez, who will wear the iconic No 7 shirt at Old Trafford, has signed a 4.5-year contract to June 2022 worth around $1.15 million (NZ) a week once a $38.2m signing-on fee, bonuses and image rights are factored in and makes him comfortably the highest-paid player in English Premier League history. Arsenal have signed the Armenia playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan from United in return, and although no cash was exchanged in the swap deal, the Sanchez transfer is effectively worth $344m once his $57.3m valuation, payments to the player and a $19.1m fee to his agent, Fernando Felicevich, are accounted for.

Manchester City had been the favourites to sign Sanchez before pulling out of the running after balking at the spiralling costs of the deal but the Chilean insisted he was joining “the biggest club in the world”, that it had been a boyhood dream to play for them and that he had held talks with Sir Alex Ferguson about a move in 2011 before signing for Barcelona from Udinese. Sanchez also said he had chosen to leave Arsenal for the “same reason” Thierry Henry quit the club for Barcelona in 2007, when the Frenchman signalled his desire to challenge for the biggest trophies, and took a parting shot at the former Arsenal players who have been critical of him.