Alexis Sanchez took to Twitter to clear up a misunderstanding caused by his farewell message to Arsenal, with Thierry Henry blamed for convincing him to join Manchester United.
Alexis joined Manchester United last Monday and left a farewell message on his Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeQtyBTFAXU/
In it, he suggests his reasons for leaving Arsenal were the same as Thierry Henry’s when he left the club for Barcelona in 2008. “I remember today, a conversation I had with Henry, a historic Arsenal player, who changed club for the same reason and today is my turn,” he said.
After criticism from supporters, Alexis has since clarified that claim, saying that Henry didn’t tell him to leave Arsenal.
I want to clarify that Henry never told me to leave the club, it was a personal decision … he LOVES the club and someday it would be nice to see him as the arsenal coach because he loves the club …
— Alexis Sánchez (@Alexis_Sanchez) January 24, 2018
This statement arrived just a day after Henry himself said he didn’t tell Sanchez to leave, following a lot of anger from fans.
I know I don’t need to explain this to the majority of Arsenal fans but contrary to speculation at no time did I tell Alexis Sanchez to leave Arsenal. I had no idea he was going to sign for Man Utd until I saw it on the news like the rest of you.
— Thierry Henry (@ThierryHenry) January 23, 2018
For Alexis to even mention Henry in the first place suggests that something must have been said between them. Conversations like these should remain private to prevent incidents like this from occurring.
For context, Henry left Arsenal after winning several trophies and during a time where Arsenal couldn’t invest to remain competitive. There is some similarity with Sanchez’s situation, only he wasn’t as successful, and Arsenal did have the money to invest.
Whereas Henry left to win the Champions League, Sanchez left to earn more than double he was on at Arsenal. The latter was a fine player for us, but to compare himself to Henry is going a step too far.