Alexis Sanchez labels report he won £20,000 bet on Jose Mourinho’s sacking ‘FALSE’ on Twitter

A report in The Sun claimed Sanchez won £20,000 off a teammate after Mourinho was sacked on Tuesday

Alexis Sanchez has responded to reports that he won a £20,000 bet with a Manchester United teammate over Jose Mourinho being sacked as “false” and insisted that he “only has gratitude” for the Portuguese for signing him at the start of the year.

The Chile international is currently back in his homeland recovering from a hamstring injury, having been absent throughout the poor run of form that led to his dismissal on Tuesday morning.

Mourinho’s replacement, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, revealed on Friday morning that he expects Sanchez back in Manchester in the coming days in order to finish his rehabilitation with the club and return to action in the new year.

But he will arrive amid reports that he was one of the players at the forefront of Mourinho’s rift with the United squad, with the 30-year-old the subject of The Sun’s back page on Friday morning.

Sanchez has since posted a stern rebuttal on Twitter to condemn the article as “FALSE!!!” and has revealed his admiration for the sacked Mourinho.

“This is FALSE!!!” Sanchez wrote with the same word printed over the article in question. “Jose gave me the chance to play for the best team in the world and I only have gratitude for him.

“We are a truly United team. We are MANCHESTER UNITED. Respect. I can't wait to help the team! Good luck tomorrow family!”

In the initial report, Sanchez was alleged to have asked United teammate Marcos Rojo: “I told you so!! Patience is all it takes. Rojo you owe me £20k.”

But the South American, who was seen on social media on Wednesday celebrating his birthday the day after Mourinho’s dismissal, shot down the story in what is the latest social media post to praise Mourinho.

Sanchez has denied winning a bet on Mourinho's sacking (Getty)

Initially, not a single member of the United first-team squad had posted anything on Twitter or Instagram more than 24 hours after the announcement relieving Mourinho of his duties. However, after The Independent pointed out that there had not been one message of thanks or goodbye, both Jesse Lingard and Eric Bailly posted messages on both accounts the following day.