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#10 Jose Mourinho on Man City’s reaction to Man United’s signing of Alexis Sanchez, 2018
“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”
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There aren’t many people in football who could get away with comparing a top player like Alexis Sanchez to an orange, but that’s exactly what Jose Mourinho did after signing him for Manchester United in January 2018. The Portuguese boss used an odd metaphor to taunt Manchester City’s reaction at missing out on the player.
Reportedly, City decided to withdraw their interest in Sanchez, feeling both his transfer fee and wage demands were too expensive, but Mourinho felt this was just sour grapes, and explained his thoughts with this 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.”
Just in case anyone didn’t quite get the metaphor, he went on to say “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.” It was a classic Mourinho jab – using one of the oddest and most memorable transfer-related quotes in recent memory.
