‘Biggest mercenary in football’ – Martin Keown has his say on Alexis Sanchez

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With the Arsenal forward reportedly set to move to Manchester United, 2004 invincible Martin Keown has his say on the Chilean attacker.

Arsenal legend and invincible Martin Keown has had his say on want-away forward Alexis Sanchez.

The entire Sanchez saga has seemed to drag on and on for time now and has dominated the headlines long before this January window.

It finally appears as though Sanchez is certainly set to leave the cub, having reportedly agreed a deal with Manchester United which will see the 29-year-old Chilean earn £350,000-per-week according to the Evening Standard.

Arsenal were prepared to offer him a contract worth £300,000-per-week themselves, but were unable to convince their star player to stay.

Last time Manchester United signed Arsenal’s star player, the move undoubtedly paid off. Robin van Persie joined United for a fee of £24m (BBC) in 2012 and led Sir Alex Ferguson’s team to an emphatic league title in what was to be the veteran Scot’s final season in management.

Sanchez, the same age as van Persie when he made the switch to Old Trafford, will be hoping to emulate the Dutchman, only this time under Jose Mourinho.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Keown was very critical of the former Barcelona player, highlighting his belief that Sanchez is motivated by money and money alone.

“Sanchez has got to be the biggest mercenary in football,” Keown wrote in his column.

“Manchester City have wanted to sign Sanchez since the summer and, if no deal is done in January, they will be waiting for him at the end of the season.”

“City would be the natural place for Sanchez to go to develop his football. He has worked with Pep Guardiola before.”

“But for Sanchez, this is clearly not about going to the best team, working with Guardiola and taking his game to another level.”

“He has probably thought that he will not get a better offer if he waits until the summer, so he might as well take the best deal on offer now. It has been all about the money.”

There is no doubt that currently it looks like Manchester City would be the better option purely based on football. However, the attraction of Manchester United should not be underestimated.

Jose Mourinho remains one of the most successful managers to have ever lived and like many pundits have pointed out, Sanchez has no guarantee to start over the likes of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Segio Aguero.

With United possessing some exciting young talent in the forward department, the squad is lacking a dominant, authoritative and most importantly quality player and perhaps Sanchez believes he can be the man to inspire the likes of Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford to take their game to the next level.

If United do manage to pull off this Sanchez deal, which it looks like they will, Jose Mourinho’s men could be a serious force to reckon with next season.