How a 10-2 Bayern humiliation convinced Alexis Sanchez to abandon his Arsenal contract agreement

Alexis Sanchez had reportedly agreed to stay at Arsenal — even shaking hands on a new contract — before a humiliating 10-2 aggregate Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich in February and March 2017 convinced him his future lay elsewhere.

The Chilean forward was among Arsenal’s most influential players during the mid-2010s, but the back-to-back 5-1 losses to Bayern in the round of 16 that season proved a breaking point. His body language on the pitch that night at the Emirates told its own story, as he sat dejected on the turf after the final whistle.

Arsenal’s record against Bayern during that era was bleak. Between 2013 and 2017, the two clubs met eight times in European competition, with Arsène Wenger’s side winning just twice and losing five. Three of those defeats came by a 5-1 scoreline, and the 2017 tie produced the most damaging of all — a 5-1 first-leg loss in Bavaria followed by an identical result at the Emirates.

Compounding the Bayern disaster, Wenger failed to qualify Arsenal for the Champions League for the first time in 19 years at the end of that 2016-17 season. For Sanchez, the combination of European embarrassment and the prospect of Europa League football the following year made leaving inevitable.

His preferred destination was Manchester City, where he hoped to reunite with former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola. Arsenal accepted an offer of around £60 million, but the deal collapsed after the club failed to secure Thomas Lemar from Monaco as a replacement — a move that would have cost a then club-record £92 million.

Sanchez remained at Arsenal into the 2017-18 season, his relationship with the club visibly deteriorating. In January 2018, Manchester United stepped in, and a straight swap with Henrikh Mkhitaryan — who had fallen out with United manager José Mourinho — satisfied both clubs.

Neither player thrived after the exchange. Mkhitaryan departed Arsenal after 18 months, while Sanchez struggled badly under Mourinho at Old Trafford before leaving for Inter Milan on loan. He has since admitted he immediately regretted his decision to leave Arsenal, a club where, despite the Bayern misery, he had been at the peak of his powers.