Arsene Wenger believes Alexis Sanchez left Arsenal for Manchester United for the money.
Sanchez completed his move to Old Trafford on Monday evening, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan heading in the other direction.
Chilean international Sanchez will earn in excess of £400,000-a-week at United and Wenger has reiterated his opinion that the cash was the defining factor in the move.
The Arsenal boss believes that because of his age, Sanchez had to jump on the chance to land a bumper contract.
“I cannot understand anybody wanting to leave Arsenal. But, in 30 years of doing transfers, you learn a lot about human beings,” Wenger said.
“As a professional, it was perhaps his last contract at the top level and an important contract. After that, I accept that because we accepted that we would let him go. After that, we analyse the pros and the cons.
“We did what we tried to do and went as far as we could. Even Manchester City moved out of it in the end. That tells you we had no chance to give him a contract.
“We have tried to find the best possible solution and the best possible solution is that we lose a world class player – I don’t deny that at all – but we did not lose him without getting somebody after. The future will tell if it was the right decision or not.
“It is not that we are only losing a player, we are gaining a player as well. And we are still active in the transfer market and trying to bring players in.”
