Alexis Sanchez says that while he doesn’t regret going to Manchester United, he would have liked to go to Manchester City instead.

Alexis Sanchez spent three good seasons at Arsenal from 2014 to 2017, winning a couple of FA Cup trophies and scoring for fun in the Premier League and the Champions League.

But his attitude towards the Gunners changed when the team failed to qualify for the Champions League ahead of 2017/18, and his head was clearly turned by offers from elsewhere.

Manchester City were the primary candidate over the summer, but when Arsenal failed to sign Thomas Lemar as a replacement, Arsene Wenger opted to hang onto Sanchez.

Despite scoring eight goals in 22 games in the first half of the season, it was clear Sanchez’s head was elsewhere, and Arsenal decided to sell him in the January window.

Manchester United remained interested, and they agreed on a swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Speaking this week, Sanchez recalled his version of events.

“I was about to go to City,” Sanchez explained (via Sport Witness). “I spoke to Guardiola every day, he told me happy birthday. He was like my dad, He was my dad at Barcelona and he was like my dad at City.

“We talked, we talked every day, he sent me messages. And everything was ready, there was a player who was going to go to Arsenal. Then Wenger tells me you are not leaving because the other player did not want to come and they do not have another.

“Suddenly the cell phone rings. Mourinho tells me: ‘Alexis, here is the seven available for you.’

“It wasn’t a money thing, so everyone knows. It was the same with United and City. And he said to me here is the seven, we are playing in the Champions League and we are going to give everything.

“I wanted to leave at that moment, but I had Guardiola’s word.

“That’s when I said to myself, Chilean footballer playing for Manchester United, something that has never happened. With the seven of Cantona, Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and now a Chilean had it, it was a dream.

“I don’t regret going to United, things happen for a reason. I would have liked to have gone to City, yes. We would have won the Champions League by now. In the final, I would have done something.”

There’s some ambiguity in Sanchez’s story that makes the timeline a little unclear.

Presumably, what he’s saying is that Jose Mourinho initially made him an offer in the summer, but he held off on that move because he had an informal agreement with Pep Guardiola.

The City move then fell apart when Arsenal failed to land Thomas Lemar, so Sanchez reconsidered the United offer ahead of the January window and his eventual transfer.

We know that City were initially still interested in Sanchez at the start of the January window, but we also know they pulled out of the race midway through the month over the finances involved.

So by the time Sanchez actually joined United, he no longer had the option to play for City. There wasn’t a choice to make – except to stay or go.

In the end, Sanchez’s move to United was a major disappointment. He won nothing, he scored five goals in 45 games, and he promptly left for Inter Milan.

It’s no real surprise he looks back on the potential City transfer more fondly.