That's not quite true though. Sanchez desperately wanted to come to us by all accounts, but our incessant stalling left him with little choice but to go to United. I have no doubt he'd have come to us and thrived if we'd gone ahead and signed him.
Not quite true ..... he wanted to come only if we offered stupid money, which our arrogant (but stupid) neighbours did. If he’d wanted DESPERATELY to come to us, he could have done - but not on wages higher than our trusted squad.
However it’s all speculation because neither you nor I were party to the negotiations. Indeed, we’re not now either. What I do believe is that we now do the right thing for the right reasons. The rags are now having to pay over the odds to get good players - like we did 10!years ago.