Alexis Sanchez: A New Chapter in Montreal
Alexis Sanchez has spent the last few years living out of a suitcase. Since that ill-fated, high-profile move to Manchester United in January 2018, his career has been a blur of airports, new dressing rooms and fleeting promises of a revival.
United never really saw the version of Alexis that terrorised defences at Arsenal. Forty-five appearances, flashes of the old electricity, but nothing like the sustained brilliance that once had him ranked among the best in the world. Then came the loan to Inter, a permanent switch, and a career that began to resemble a tour rather than a settled chapter.
There were stops that hinted at a rebirth. An 18-goal spell with Marseille briefly lit up Ligue 1 and reminded everyone why clubs once queued for his signature. Yet, aside from that, end product has been thin for a player who built his name on ruthless final-third impact. A return to Udinese, another stint at Inter, and then a season in Spain with Sevilla in 2025-26 only underlined the sense of a star searching for one last true home at 37.
Now that search leads to Canada, and to Montreal.
A new stage, an old fire
This is the twilight of his career, but the hope – in Montreal and across MLS – is that it won’t be a quiet fade into retirement. The hope is that a lost spark catches again on Canadian soil.
Bacary Sagna is convinced it can. The former France and Arsenal defender, who knows both Alexis and Montreal well, believes the league is about to be reminded what a fully engaged Sanchez looks like.
“He will need to adapt to the cold first! Trust me, it's cold,” Sagna told GOAL, speaking on behalf of BetVictor Online Casino. The joke landed, but the tone quickly sharpened. “But Alexis Sanchez is a top player. I had some feedback already and people were impressed at his first session, they could see the difference of quality, they could see why he is Alexis Sanchez.”
That line matters. In a league increasingly accustomed to marquee arrivals, Sagna is adamant this one still moves the needle. For him, the key is simple: joy.
“I think it's very important for him to just enjoy football again and to show why he's been performing for Arsenal, why he's been in the top 20 best players in the world at some point. MLS will notice this soon because he's a top player and I'm pleased to see him playing for Montreal and hopefully he will have a great impact.”
The message is clear: give Alexis the ball, give him a purpose, and the old instincts might just roar back.
Sagna’s Montreal blueprint
Sagna is not speaking from a distance. He made the same jump in 2018, swapping Manchester City and a spell at Benevento for a move that many in Europe still saw as left-field. He ended up staying one-and-a-half seasons in MLS and talks about that time with the calm certainty of someone who found exactly what he needed.
The draw of MLS is often painted in neon. New York, Miami, Los Angeles – the marketing writes itself. Montreal sells something different, and Sagna leans into that contrast.
“The lifestyle is very good. I think the ecosystem is made for a great family life. It's an amazing country,” he said. “I lived there for three years. It's a well-balanced country, you have the seasons and people live well. I was in Montreal, beautiful city. It's a European aspect with U.S. infrastructure.”
It’s not just the postcard stuff. For a veteran like Alexis, who has spent years under the harshest spotlight, that balance matters. Sagna even found himself embracing the very thing he warned Sanchez about.
“Even winter, I mean I love the sun but I enjoyed winter there because I could go walking for two hours on the snow in the park with a hot chocolate and it grounded you. I think not many places are like that today in the world we live in today.”
This is the pitch: not just a club, but a city that slows the noise and lets a player breathe again.
“It’s amongst the best places to live - Montreal was in the top five of the best places to live in the world at some point. It’s fun, the vibe is good, people are happy and it's a nice country. Also, people speak both languages, French and English, and you have a big Spanish community being in North America also.”
For a South American star in the final chapters of his career, those details are not cosmetic. They are part of the package.
Time, space and the Messi benchmark
Alexis has not come to Canada for a farewell tour that lasts a few months. He signed a two-year contract with Montreal in August 2026, a commitment that gives him time to adjust, to understand the league’s rhythms and, crucially, to build a role that suits where his game is now rather than where it was at Arsenal.
He does not arrive into a vacuum. The template for a late-career renaissance in MLS is already towering over the league in pink. Lionel Messi has turned Inter Miami into a travelling event, his presence rewriting what many thought possible for a 39-year-old in a physically demanding competition.
Alexis has seen that up close. Recently, he watched Messi tear apart Canadian opposition at Nu Stadium, the Argentine great scoring four of Inter Miami’s seven goals in a crushing win that felt like a personal reminder to every veteran still lacing up their boots: class, when nurtured properly, doesn’t have to fade quietly.
That is the standard now. Not just to arrive, but to transform.
Montreal won’t expect Sanchez to be Messi. No one can. But they will expect influence. Goals. Moments that make the stadium lean forward and remember the player who once dragged Arsenal by sheer force of will. The league, too, will watch closely. Another global name, another test of whether MLS can still coax one more act from a star who has seen everything.
The cold will bite. The schedule will demand. The question, as Alexis steps into this new chapter, is whether the Canadian winter becomes a final obstacle – or the backdrop to a last, defiant flourish.
