The social media frenzy surrounding Alexis Sanchez’s high-profile move to Manchester United dwarfed interest shown when Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said Thursday.
Sanchez joined United from Premier League rivals Arsenal last month in a deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go the other way and has made an immediate impact on and off the pitch, scoring on his home debut and setting a new record for shirt sales.
“Alexis Sanchez has set a new January signing record in terms of shirt sales — three times that previous record,” Woodward said in United’s earnings report conference call for the second quarter of the 2017-18 financial year.
“Last month we further invested in the future of the club by extending Jose Mourinho’s contract and entering into an exchange agreement with Arsenal swapping Mkhitaryan for Sanchez, strengthening Jose’s attacking options.”
He said the signing generated some striking social media statistics.
“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,” said Woodward.
“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.”
