Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho accuses Manchester City of sour grapes over Alexis Sanchez

The United manager claims it was not money which caused City to pull out of the transfer

Mourinho believes City have sour grapes

Jose Mourinho has described Manchester City’s reasons for not signing Alexis Sanchez as sour grapes – or oranges, to be precise.

The Manchester United manager welcomed Sanchez to Old Trafford earlier this week after the 29-year-old forward completed his move from Arsenal, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan heading in the opposite direction.

Sanchez had been expected to join Manchester City at the start of the January transfer window, only for the Premier League leaders to withdraw their interest and claim the player’s wage demands were excessive.

Mourinho disputed that on Thursday ahead of his side’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Yeovil Town by invoking a misremembered version of Aesop’s fable The Fox and the Grapes, in which he substituted the grapes for oranges.

“I think Alexis reminds me a little bit of the history – I don’t know, it’s not a history, almost a metaphor – when you see the tree with amazing oranges at the top and cannot get there. You say: ‘Oh, I got the lower ones because I don’t like the ones at the top.’

“You like the ones at the top. They are so nice, so orange, so round, so full of juice but you cannot get there so you say: ‘I don’t want to go there’ or ‘I didn’t like it, I prefer the other ones.’ It reminds me of that story.”

Mourinho added: “I know that if other clubs did not get him it’s not a problem of money, for sure. That’s not a problem of money.

“You go and analyse the numbers and Manchester City spent more money than us [last summer], Chelsea spent more money than us, I think even Everton spent more money than us. I don’t think that’s the problem.”

It is understood that Sanchez, who was in the final year of his £130,000-a-week contract at Arsenal, will be receive a basic weekly salary of approximately £300,000 at United.

​Mourinho, however, questioned the various figures that have been reported in the media and asked for United’s spending on Sanchez to be viewed in “perspective”, as a swap deal rather a transfer with a standard fee.

“When people speak about salaries, first of all I have many doubts. I am sure the numbers that are written are not exactly the numbers,” he said. “Secondly, we have to put things in perspective. How much would Alexis Sanchez cost in normal transfer, club-to-club, as a player with two or three years of contract? We look to the numbers now and I would say roughly between £100-150m.

“So, you put things in perspective: you go to the numbers that the club didn’t pay on the transfer. You go to the numbers that the club pays in salaries, which are obviously higher than others, but you put things in perspective.

United completed the signing of Sanchez earlier this week (Getty)

“Expensive or cheap? Honestly, I think it was fair,” Mourinho added. “I cannot say that it was expensive because it wasn’t, I cannot say it was cheap because if you add all the values of his contract, it’s not also cheap.

“But I think it’s a very good deal for us and the player has a fantastic contract. It’s a contract according to his qualities as a player and according to the situation – no transfer fee.”

Following Axel Tuanzebe’s loan move to Aston Villa, which was confirmed on Thursday, Mourinho does not expect any further United transfer business this month.

The United manager refused to comment on speculation linking the club with Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri and suggested that even once the window re-opens in the summer, United’s business will be minimal.

“I don’t speak about players,” Mourinho said when asked directly about Seri, who has also attracted interest from City. “[This month] Tuanzebe goes on loan, nobody is leaving, nobody is coming. Our transfer market in the summer will be short.”