Alexis Sanchez’s move to Manchester United was certainly the talk of the January transfer window, but it has been revealed that this move broke a number of records.
The Chilean made the move from Arsenal to Manchester United just a few short weeks ago, with a Henrikh Mkhitaryan making the move in the opposite direction in a move which seemingly suited all parties.
However, stats released yesterday have revealed just how much the move captured the minds of football community.
The forward’s capture generated a whopping 75% more social media interactions than when Neymar made his world record £198m move from Barcelona to PSG. United have also sold more shirts bearing Sanchez’s name and famous number 7 shirt than any other January signing in their history.
The numbers were revealed during United’s second quarter earnings conference on Thursday where Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said:
“Alexis Sanchez has set a new January signing record in terms of shirt sales – three times that previous record.
“This trade [Sanchez to United] generated some interesting social media stats.
“It was the biggest United post on Instagram with two million likes and comments, the most shared United Facebook post ever, the most retweeted United post ever and #Alexis7 was the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide.
“To put all that into context, the announcement posts generated 75 per cent more interaction than the sale of the world’s most expensive player last summer when Neymar moved from Barcelona to PSG.”
