New Manchester United signing Alexis Sanchez reveals how close he came to joining club under Sir Alex Ferguson

He spoke to the former United manager ahead of a move to Barcelona

Alexis Sanchez has revealed just how close he came to joining Manchester United while at Udinese before moving to Barcelona instead.

The Chilean was tipped as the natural replacement to Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese left for Real Madrid for a then world-record fee of £80m but Sanchez ultimately joined headed towards the Nou Camp instead.

However, after finally joining United six years later in a direct swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan heading to Arsenal in his place, Sanchez has shed light on just how close he came to moving to Old Trafford.

“Since I was a young lad I've always said that my dream was to play for Manchester United, and I'm not just saying that because I'm here now and today it's come true,” he told MUTV. “I always said as a kid that I'd like to play for United and I once spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson about it.

“We chatted for around 20 minutes. And I told him that my dream was to come here to Manchester United.

“It really is a massive club, very powerful, and so now, when I got the opportunity to come here, I looked at the badge and my hairs just stood up on end because it's a powerful club and the biggest in England.

“I've always been motivated by this club, by their red colours, which have always stood out for me and I'm genuinely saying this from the heart when I tell you that this is like a dream come true for me, playing for Manchester United.

“It makes me feel really happy and I'm so pleased to be here at the 'Theatre of Dreams' as everyone calls it.”