Former Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie has said that Alexis Sanchez needs to be happier and enjoy his football in order to bring out his best performances.
Sanchez completed a move from the Emirates Stadium to Old Trafford in January 2018, but has failed to make an impression at his new club, and looks to be on the move to AC Milan.
The Chilean scored 80 goals in 166 appearances for Arsenal, but has just five goals during 45 appearances in a United shirt.
It was a different story for Robin Van Persie, who made the move from Arsenal to Man Utd in August 2012, the Dutchman scored 26 goals in his debut season at Old Trafford, earning him the Golden Boot.
Van Persie has now shared the reasons he thinks that Sanchez has not been successful in following in his footsteps.
“He doesn’t look happy to me,” he told BT Sport .
“I can’t properly judge it because I am not working with him but when I see him play I rarely see him smiling.
“Of course, I get it when you are playing you need to be serious and you want to win but after you score a goal you can smile, because that is the point of football.
“We all play football because we like it and if you like something you should smile.
“I think in the first couple of months after his move he was happy and he was playing well.
“Mentally he needs to find that happiness again because if you are happy then you are fitter, you want to create and you want to have fun.
“So I think he should find a way to be happier again.”
Despite the hard time that the attacker has had since his move from Arsenal, Van Persie still believes that Sanchez has everything in his armoury to prove that he is a top player.
“...he is still the same great player," he added.
“He has it all: he’s fast, he can assist, he can dribble, and he can score.
“There is just a lot of negativity around him from fans and people who have opinions on social media.
“Maybe it’s all become a little too much for him. He just needs to block it out, find his true happiness and just enjoy football.”
