Jose Mourinho has insisted Alexis Sanchez’s decision to sign for Manchester United over Manchester City, was not down to money.
United hijacked City’s bid to sign the Chilean from Arsenal this month and sent Henrikh Mkhitaryan the other way.
City reportedly pulled out of the race after refusing to meet Arsenal’s asking price and Sanchez’s wage demands.
Mourinho, however, has dismissed the claims.
“I know that if other clubs did not get him it’s not a problem of money, for sure.
“That’s not a problem of money. You go and analyse the numbers and Manchester City spent more money than us, Chelsea spent more money than us, I think even Everton spent more money than us. I don’t think that’s not the problem.
“I don’t know. Alexis could go everywhere. He had lots of choices. He decided to come here and you have to ask him why,” he told a news conference on Thursday.
Pep Guardiola said City had decided against signing the 29-year-old in a bid to be “stable with the wages,” but Mourinho suggested it may be a case of sour grapes.
“I think Alexis reminds me a little bit of the history – I don’t know, it’s not a history, almost a metaphor – when you see the tree with amazing oranges at the top of the tree and cannot get there.
“You say: ‘Oh, I got the lower ones because I don’t like the ones at the top.’ You like the ones at the top.
“They are so nice, so orange, so round, so full of juice but you cannot get there so you say: ‘I don’t want to go there’ or ‘I didn’t like it, I prefer the other ones.’ It reminds me of that story,” he added.
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