SHIRT DEAL

ED Woodward insists Alexis Sanchez is already paying off his move to United with recordbreaking shirt sales.

Jose Mourinho beat City to the signing of the Chilean last month, in a deal believed to be worth around £500,000-a-week.

But United’s executive vice chairman Woodward is adamant the money required to land Sanchez was well within the club’s budget, while also underlining the commercial benefits of signing one of the highest profile players in the Premier League.

Sales of Sanchez’s No.7 shirt for January have already oustripped the previous record for the month three times over.

The announcement of his arrival also dwarfed Neymar’s world record move to Paris St Germain last summer generating 75 per cent more social media interactions.

Addressing United’s shareholders on the New York Stock Exchange, Woodward said: “Our solid business model has allowed us to invest in the future of the club with the extension of Jose Mourinho’s contract as manager and the acquisition of Alexis Sanchez.

“This trade generated some interesting social media stats. It was the biggest United post on Instagram with 2m likes and comments, the most shared United Facebook post ever, the most retweeted post ever and #Alexis7 was the number one trending topic on Twitter world wide.

“Alexis Sanchez has also set a new January signing record in terms of shirt sales - three times that previous record.”

United’s revenue for the quarter ending December was £163.9m - marking a four percent increase, but they also recorded a £29m loss for the period. There were decreases in commercial revenue (down £1.4m to £65.4m) and matchday revenue (down £1.7m to £36.9m).

The club’s overall net debt dropped by £80.7m to £328.6m.