Alexis Sanchez has alienated many of his Manchester United team-mates with his behaviour since his January transfer from Arsenal, particularly in his behaviour towards the recently-sacked Jose Mourinho.
The Portuguese left his position as manager at Old Trafford earlier this week, and various reports have come out about how the squad reacted to his departure.
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CaughtOffside understands the generally unpopular Mourinho will certainly not be missed by most in the United dressing room, with Sanchez among those.
However, there has been some controversy stirring as the Sun report that Sanchez boasted in a players’ WhatsApp group chat that he won a bet with Marcos Rojo on the former boss’ sacking.
The Chile international came out and denied this strongly on his Twitter page today, tweeting his support for Mourinho and gratitude for bringing him to the Red Devils in the first place.
This is FALSE!!!. José gave me the chance to play for the best team in the world and I only have gratitude for him. We are a truly United team. We are MANCHESTER UNITED. Respect. I can't wait to help the team !. Good luck tomorrow family! pic.twitter.com/9uhXqd5iEU
— Alexis Sánchez (@Alexis_Sanchez) December 21, 2018
A club source has, however, informed CaughtOffside that they believe this story to be true, and that many of his team-mates have been distinctly unimpressed by his antics.
Sanchez has looked a shadow of his former self at Arsenal, and the feeling inside the United dressing room is that he very quickly used Mourinho as an easy target for his failings.
CaughtOffside also understands the 30-year-old’s excessive wages (he is widely reported as earning somewhere between £400,000 and £500,000 a week) have alienated others in the squad, particularly as his professionalism and output on the pitch have not lived up to the expectations that come with such high earnings and status.
‘Sanchez hasn’t fit in at United and, unlike at Arsenal, he hasn’t earned the respect of a player they’d look up to,’ a United insider told CaughtOffside.
‘Mourinho has become to easy a target for his blatant struggles – and the players would vouch for that.
‘But Mourinho tried. Stuck by him longer than most would and defended his corner despite Sanchez being a pain in the backside.’
It remains to be seen if Sanchez can turn things around for himself, while some will question if this level of questioning his behaviour would really have come out if he’d at least been playing a bit better, with stories like this not seeming to plague his time at Arsenal in nearly the same way.