After his move to Manchester United, Alexis Sanchez claimed he wanted to play for the club ever since he was a child. There has been evidence to support and condemn the statement.

Speaking to the official United website, the Chilean said: “Since I was a young lad I’ve always said that my dream was to play for Manchester United. I’m not just saying that because I’m here now and today it’s come true. I always said as a kid that I’d like to play for United.”

In fairness, one Arsenal fan found some evidence to support the claim. An old picture shows Alexis wearing a Manchester United jacket. While not a child, it does make the statement slightly more reliable.

Alexis also never said anything similar about Arsenal. When he joined the club, he called the Gunners a “great team”, and said “every child dreams to play in a ground like Emirates Stadium”. He never claimed to support the Gunners when he was younger.

On the other hand, however, there are still a few details making me very sceptical. Another Arsenal fan-turned-private investigator dug up this clip from Arsenal Media:

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The ex-Barcelona man admits he didn’t really know anything about football as a child. He even says he didn’t have a television. I’m not sure how he dreamt of playing for Manchester United if he didn’t know who they were and couldn’t watch them.

Most likely the Chilean is bending the truth a bit to look good for the United fans. He probably discovered the club as a teenager and decided he wanted to play for them then. Clearly he didn’t realise that saying he made the decision “as a child” would be so easy to refute.

You’d think spending three years around Arsenal Twitter would’ve taught him that.

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