… and the (not-so-squeaky clean) soccer star set to earn £600,000 A WEEK!
Striker’s selfie on pitch as he seals United mega deal
BACK home he played barefoot in the street and was known as the squirrel because of the speed with which he climbed trees to retrieve footballs.
Today it is expected that Alexis sanchez – the boy from a mining town in northern Chile – will start earning £600,000 a week as England’s best-paid soccer star. But, if reports this weekend are true, he has already fallen into the louche lifestyle of the modern footballer far away from home and his girlfriend.
As he boarded a private jet to further his big-money transfer to Manchester united, the Arsenal star faced claims that he had picked up a student in a bar and offered her £1,000 for sex in his opulent flat. sanchez, who is dating actress Mayte Rodriguez, allegedly sent 20-year-old paulina sobierajska a series of WhatsApp messages, including one reading: ‘Ok baby see you later? How much would it cost to make love with you?’
The 29-year- old is said to have paid her £1,000 in £20 notes before performing a striptease as they sipped pink champagne in his Kensington apartment.
Miss sobierajska told The sun: ‘Alexis hugged me and offered me champagne. He gave me a striptease. He took off his top and danced for me for the fun of it.’ she said she stopped seeing him shortly before Christmas when she saw a picture of him kissing his girlfriend online.
sanchez’s riches could hardly be more removed from his own beginnings. His mother sold fish to scrape a living and he played football barefoot until he was 15 when the local mayor gave him a pair of Reeboks.
Within three years he had become the youngest ever player to play for Chile.
Reports in Chile suggest Miss Rodriguez will join sanchez in Manchester when she has finished filming her current TV series.
MANCHESTER UNITED will announce the signing of Alexis Sanchez within 24 hours after he completed his medical yesterday.
The Chile forward, 29, will become the club’s best-paid player on almost £600,000 a week — a basic wage of £350,000, £100,000 image rights and £144,000 in bonuses. He was last night pictured taking a selfie in a United shirt with his name and No 7 on the back.
Sanchez must wait for the Home Office to update his work permit today, as will Henrikh Mkhitaryan before he completes the swap with his move to Arsenal.
Sanchez took a private jet to Manchester at midday yesterday from Kent’s Biggin Hill airport, before arriving at United’s training ground at 1.35pm for a series of tests. He left for his city centre hotel at 6.15pm.
Mkhitaryan has had his medical at Arsenal, who also aim to seal a deal for Dortmund forward Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang today.
SO what did they expect? Loyalty? He was passing through. Everybody is, at Watford. The manager, the players. Hell, English football had to change its rules to guard against the transitory nature of the Pozzo family’s vision.
Remember plan A: 14 loan signings, 10 from Udinese in season 2012-13? The Pozzo blueprint ran so against the spirit of the game that, after one campaign, both the Premier League and Football League wrote new rules to prevent it happening again.
The conveyor belt of disposable managers, however, is beyond their remit. Watford have dumped or lost nine now, since dismissing Sean Dyche in July 2012. Placed in that context the wounded innocence of their statement, having claimed another victim, is a peak of irony.
Marco Silva was eyeing the exit door before his employers had the chance to steer him through it. He coveted the opportunity to succeed Ronald Koeman at Everton.
Who could blame him? Watford have ditched their manager at the end of the last three seasons when, in the opinion of most neutrals, each has done a reasonable job.
Slavisa Jokanovic won promotion, Quique Sanchez Flores stayed up and reached an FA Cup semi-final, Walter Mazzarri kept Watford safe despite a mind-boggling mix of nationalities — he had used players from 21 different countries by mid-September. Gone, all gone.
Silva may have started well but he is no fool. Watford isn’t a long-term project. He used Hull and he was using Watford — as they were using him. He saw them as another step up the ladder — he just didn’t expect the opportunity for elevation to come so soon.
Silva’s successor? Javi Gracia, late of Pontevedra, Cadiz, Villarreal B, Olympiacos Volou, Kerkyra, Almeria, Osasuna, Malaga and Rubin Kazan. Watford will be his 10th club in less than 10 years. With such a keen sense of commitment, he should fit right in.