Alexis Sanchez has claimed he would have won the Champions League with Manchester City over Manchester United.
The Chile international controversially left Arsenal in 2018 to join their rivals United in January as his contract entered the final year.
City were also interested in his services at the time but Sanchez opted to move to Old Trafford instead, penning a lucrative £375,000-a-week deal.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan went the other way but the forward never truly settled at United and he scored just three Premier League goals in two seasons at the club.
It is fair to say his time in Manchester did not go well but he has insisted had he made the move to the Etihad, they would have won the Champions League.
“I was about to go to City. 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,” Sanchez told TVN as reported by La Tercera and Sport Witness.
“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 [2021 Champions League] final I would have done something.”
Sanchez left United after two miserable years on loan at Inter Milan initially before making the move permanent in 2020.
The Chilean rekindled some of his goalscoring touch but never truly found the heights he met at Arsenal, where he scored 80 times in 166 games.
However, since joining Marseille last summer, Sanchez has been in flying form and has scored 16 times this season.
