SANCHEZ DRUGS TEST SHOCKER
MANCHESTER UNITED new boy Alexis Sanchez could be in hot water after reports claimed he missed a drugs test. The Chilean striker is at the centre of an FA investigation after he allegedly failed to show for the test on Monday. Anti-doping officers turned up at Arsenal’s training base to test players including Sanchez, but the striker had travelled north to complete his move to United and was in Liverpool getting a new work permit. Officials from Manchester United and the Gunners could now appear before the FA to explain why Sanchez was not available. The rules state that clubs have to provide detailed training plans at the start of each week so players are always available for drug tests. Technically Sanchez (left) was still a Gunners player, but the move to United meant he wasn’t in London – and it remains to be seen which club could take responsibility. Manchester City were fined £35,000 last season for breaching anti-doping rules regarding player information. United boss Jose Mourinho, who last night signed a contract extension until 2020,,has taken a swipe at City over their failure to sign Sanchez. The 29-year-old is set to make his United
debut tonight in their FA Cup fourth round clash at Yeovil.
City were hot favourites to land him until United made their move.
But Mourinho hit back at claims from the blue half of Manchester that his wage demands were too high.
Instead he believes Sanchez, who will earn around £500,000 a week, chose United because they wanted him more.
The Old Trafford boss said: “I know that if other clubs did not get him it’s not a problem of money, for sure.
“You go and analyse the numbers and Manchester City spent more money than us, Chelsea spent more money than us, I think even Everton spent more money than us.
“I think Alexis reminds me a little bit of when you see the tree with amazing oranges at the top of the tree and cannot get there.
“You say, ‘Oh, I got the lower ones because I don’t like the ones at the top’.
Pushed
“But you like the ones at the top. They are so nice, so orange, so round, so full of juice but you cannot get there so you say, ‘I don’t want to go there’ or ‘I didn’t like it, I prefer the other ones’.”
The United boss, who insists it was the Glazer family and Ed Woodward who pushed for the Sanchez deal, also defended the eye-watering sums involved in the transfer that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go to Arsenal.
And he also hit out at claims that Sanchez is a “mercenary” for opting to join United, insisting the former Barcelona forward deserves his deal because of the risk he took in letting his Arsenal contract run down.
He said: “Alexis could go everywhere. He had lots of choices. He decided to come here and you have to ask him why.
“Obviously, he wanted to be paid according to his quality, according to the perspective and – one thing people sometimes forget – according to the risk.
“The player that lets his contract arrive until the end is a player that is playing and training every day at the limit of risk, a risk other players don’t have.”