Manchester United star Alexis Sanchez handed 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud

Posted Thursday, February 08, 2018 by Express.co.uk

Manchester United star Alexis Sanchez handed 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud
Alexis Sanchez has been given a 16-month suspended prison sentence

ALEXIS SANCHEZ has accepted a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud - but he will not go to jail.

Manchester United ace Sanchez was accused of not declaring funds of close to €1million to the treasury in Spain while he was at Barcelona.

He has been fined €590,065 and will not receive any public aid or tax incentives for two years.

Sanchez has accepted two eight-month prison sentences - but will not spend a day in jail unless he commits another crime in the next two years.

The Chilean was represented by David Aineto, who also took care of Javier Mascherano's trial.

Sanchez spent three seasons at Barcelona before coming to England and spending three-and-a-half years at Arsenal.

He moved to Manchester United in January and signed a deal believed to be worth £500,000 a week.

The Chile international scored his first goal for United on Saturday against Huddersfield, knocking in the rebound after missing a penalty.

He teamed up with Jose Mourinho at United - the Portuguese also had tax complications from his time in Spain - and has already made an impact at United.

Mourinho is no longer in the market for more forwards this summer, putting an end to links with Gareth Bale, Antoine Griezmann and a return for Cristiano Ronaldo.

On his arrival at United, Sanchez admitted it was a dream to play at 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 said.

"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."