Alexis Sanchez has admitted to defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of almost €1m between 2012 and 2013. Sanchez appeared from London on a video link in a Barcelona court to admit the charges.
The Chilean international was charged by the Spanish tax men for allegedly syphoning off money earned through his image rights during his stint at Barcelona. He was supposed to pay a sum of €983,443 as a tax for his income but he used a Malta based company to simulate the money.
Sanchez who joined Arsenal in 2014 is the fifth player to face this kind of allegation. Earlier Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Samuel Eto and Adriano had been accused of tax evasion. Messi was recently handed a 21 months prison sentence but is did not serve in jail.
Sanchez has already paid the full amount and now will have to pay a huge amount of fine to get rid of a jail sentence.
