Manchester United win social media battle against rivals Manchester City and Arsenal as Alexis Sanchez video attracts 1.4m interactions in two hours

  • Man United and Arsenal announced their respective signings at the same time
  • Both clubs chose to reveal confirmation of deals at 6pm (UK time) on Monday
  • Manchester City also publicised Kevin De Bruyne's new contract on social media 

Manchester United got the better of Arsenal and Manchester City in the battle of 6pm announcements on Monday.

United unveiled their signing of Alexis Sanchez at the same as Arsenal announced Henrikh Mkhitaryan. City, meanwhile, confirmed Kevin De Bruyne had signed a new long-term contract.


Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all lit up once with the news – but it was the Old Trafford club that came out on top.

Manchester United's Alexis Sanchez was videoed playing a piano in his official unveiling video

Manchester United's Alexis Sanchez was videoed playing a piano in his official unveiling video

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's announcement video didn't garner as much traction online

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's announcement video didn't garner as much traction online

NUMBERS BEHIND MONDAY EVENING'S SOCIAL MEDIA BATTLE (TAKEN WITHIN TWO HOURS)

MAN UTD

Twitter: 114,628 retweets, 134,557 likes

Facebook: 186,000 likes, 11,482 shares

Instagram: 971,631

TOTAL INTERACTIONS: 1,418,298

ARSENAL

Twitter: 28,010 retweets, 37,077 likes

Facebook: 60,000 likes, 7,721 shares

Instagram: 373,831

TOTAL INTERACTIONS: 506,639

MAN CITY

Twitter: 2,925 retweets, 5,904 likes

Facebook: 3,100 likes, 152 shares

Instagram: 61,542

TOTAL INTERACTIONS: 73,623

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Two hours after their original post, United had seen a total of 1.4million interactions on social media, with 971,631 likes on Instagram.

They managed a total of 114,628 retweets and 134,557 likes on Twitter too as their unveiling video, which unusually showed Sanchez playing the piano, went viral.

Arsenal saw a total of 506,639 interactions, with the majority of those from Instagram too. They uploaded a picture of Mkhitaryan holding up a Gunners shirt and smiling.

City saw only 73,623 interactions overall. That included 2,925 retweets from their original announcement of De Bruyne's new deal. 

De Bruyne signed a new deal at the Etihad on Monday worth £280,000-a-week before bonuses

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne signed a new long-term contract alongside his wife