SANCHEZ GUILTY
United star’s tax fraud...as Herrera faces match-fix trial
MANCHESTER UNITED’S new signing Alexis Sanchez has been handed a 16-month prison sentence in Spain for tax fraud.
Sanchez’s team-mate Ander Herrera was also in the spotlight yesterday after pleading his innocence over historical match-fixing allegations in La Liga that are likely to result in a criminal trial later this year.
Sanchez, the highest-paid player in the Premier League on £600,000 a week, accepted his punishment for defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of £900,000 during his time at Barcelona.
The 29-year- old Chile star will not go to prison because it is his first offence and the sentence is less than two years.
However, his conviction could be a stumbling block to obtaining a visa if United tour America again this summer. Sanchez must
also pay a £525,000 fine in addition to the tax he owes for 2012 and 2013 on image rights earned at Barcelona.
The agreement with the spanish attorney General means sanchez will not face trial. He is the latest big name to become embroiled in a tax probe that has also targeted lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
United manager Jose Mourinho remains under investigation over £2.94m of unpaid contributions during his spell in charge of Madrid. sanchez’s agent Fernando Felicevich hit out at the authorities for leaking the news and claimed that he had been forced into the ‘unfair’ deal.
He said: ‘seeing the nightmare that companions like leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been through, we have reached the conclusion that it is better to accept an unfair settlement so we can move on.’
Meanwhile, Herrera is one of 42 people facing trial over a match-fixing scandal that dates back to his time as a Real Zaragoza player in 2011. Those accused face jail sentences of between six months and four years if convicted.
It is alleged Zaragoza paid money into the accounts of nine players who returned the cash to the club so it could be passed on to members of levante before a match in May 2011.
Zaragoza won 2-1 to stay up and relegate deportivo la Coruna.
It is claimed that Herrera, who was 21 at the time and about to join athletic Bilbao, received two payments of £44,000 and £35,000. Herrera denies any wrongdoing.