Manchester United’s decision to pay Alexis Sanchez record wages is looking like an even bigger misjudgement than it once did.

No United fan was truly comfortable with Sanchez being paid a wage of £400,000 per week when he signed in 2018.

Sanchez has gone onto become the club’s biggest ever flop. He is currently on loan at Inter Milan, where United are paying three quarters of his wages.

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The agreement was an ugly sign of United’s excess spending, an a terrible error from Ed Woodward.

Sanchez struggled badly. Odion Ighalo has scored just one less goal in one month than the Chilean contributed in 18 months.

He has scored only one goal in Italy and Inter have no plans to sign him permanently.

 

To make matters worse, United are due to pay him a £1.1 million ‘loyalty bonus’ in July, The Sun report. It’s a joke, and the joke is on the club’s fans, many of who are struggling to make ends meet at the moment.

Looked bad, now it looks awful

The world is facing a financial crisis as a result of the fallout from the health pandemic. Football is not immune.

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It is crass to consider that Sanchez is earning £400,000 every week from the club for contributing nothing.

What’s more, he’s entitled to it, because Ed Woodward gave him a contract.

While Woodward was not to foresee the events of 2020, he should have considered that by the end of this year Sanchez turns 32, and will still have 18 months on his deal left to run.

Signing off on a deal like this was asking for trouble, and while United inevitably try to cut costs and spend as sensibly as possible, Sanchez is a drain on the club’s finances, which frankly, Woodward should have been sacked for.

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