Alexis Sanchez to join Manchester United squad on pre-season US tour after visa issue is resolved

The Chilean was initially denied a US visa due to a 16-month suspended jail sentence he accepted for tax fraud in Spain

Alexis Sanchez will soon join up with his Manchester United teammates on their pre-season tour of the United States after the club confirmed that his visa issue has been resolved.

United were forced to leave Sanchez in Manchester after the Chilean was denied clearance to join the rest of the squad on the trip to the US, having accepted a 16-month suspended jail sentence in Spain for tax fraud earlier this year.

US law rules that no person found guilty of fraud can be granted a visa to enter the country from overseas, but United were hopeful that Sanchez would be granted special dispensation to join up with his teammates through the waiver system.

In a story posted on his official Instagram account, Sanchez hinted that he will soon be part of United’s tour squad after completing a solo fitness session at Carrington.

Captioning a selfie with a United coach, Sanchez wrote, “The last training in Manchester” followed by the word “Soon” and an American flag emoji.

A statement on United's official website then confirmed Sanchez had been cleared, saying: "There is good news on the Alexis Sanchez front as the Chilean star has been given the green light to fly to the United States to join Tour 2018 presented by Aon.

"He is now due to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Los Angeles in order to be reunited with the squad."

United are scheduled to play their first pre-season friendly against Club America on Friday, and further matches against San Jose Earthquakes, AC Milan, Liverpool and Real Madrid are also planned as part of the club’s participation in the International Champions Cup.

Earlier this week manager Jose Mourinho described United’s preparations for the new season as “very bad”, adding that he is worried because of the absence of many of his senior players.

Asked about Sanchez’s visa situation, he replied: “I don’t know. It’s really bad, really sad. It’s not good for him, for me for the team, for the organisation of the [International Champions] cup. It’s not good for anyone.

“But there is no-one to blame, the club is making the effort I have to respect the US authorities in their process of visas, but hopefully he join us later because it could be important to work with [Anthony] Martial, Alexis and [Juan] Mata who are the players we have in attack for start of the season.

“No [Romelu] Lukaku, [Jesse] Lingard, Marcus Rashford, so if Alexis is not working with us for 20 days it would be really bad.”

Sanchez joined United from Arsenal in a straight swap deal with Henrikh Mikhitaryan in January, signing a four-year contract. He registered two goals and three assists in 12 Premier League appearances for his new club in the second half of the season.