Jose Mourinho goads Arsenal fans by claiming Alexis Sanchez transfer was ‘cheap’

Jose Mourinho has hailed the capture of Alexis Sanchez as ‘cheap’ after the attacker completed his move to Manchester United.

Sanchez joined from Arsenal on a free transfer as the Gunners opted to wave the fee in exchange for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

United will pay Sanchez £500,000 a week at Old Trafford and forked out a significant amount of money in agent fees and a signing on bonus.

Despite the figures around the deal, Mourinho believes United were incredibly lucky to get Sanchez on the ‘cheap’.

He said: ‘He was cheap wasn’t he? Free transfer. He was free. So for that price he’s fantastic.

‘I think everybody thinks the same in this country. Everyone has to agree that he is a fantastic player and the team that got him has a plus.

‘We have a good group of attacking players you could see today we played with three of them, [Jesse] Lingard was on the bench, [Romelu] Lukaku was on the bench, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] at home, [Anthony] Martial at home.

‘So we have a good group. His [Sanchez] quality is a plus and his experience is another plus.’

Sanchez should have fetched anywhere between £50million and £100m, but Arsenal’s hand was forced with the Chilean refusing to sign a new deal.

The goalscorer would have walked away for nothing in the summer and Arsenal decided it was best to allow his exit and sign Mkhitaryan.

Sanchez made his debut for United on Friday night in a 4-0 win in the FA Cup and Mourinho raved about his performance.

‘I was very pleased with Alexis and very pleased with his shin pads,’ Mourinho said.

‘The shin pads showed they were very good quality. I was very pleased with him and his attitude.

‘It is not a surprise for me or anyone in this country that follows football because he has had three years here showing his quality.

‘He wanted to play and he needed to play, he didn’t play for Arsenal in the last two or three matches.

‘His training was also difficult as he didn’t know where he would be today or tomorrow, he is not training here or there, so he needed to train like he did in the last two or three years and he needed minutes on the pitch for his condition to come back.

‘He has great quality and scores goals, makes assists, has a good attitude when the team loses the ball, he’s good at set pieces. I think really he is one of the best attacking players in the world.’