Arsenal star forward Alexis Sanchez could face jail time after being accused of tax fraud allegations during his time at Barcelona by Spanish authorities.
The 27-year old could face some off-field trouble as he is alleged of evading tax during 2012 and 2013 as prosecutor Miguel Angel Perez de Gregorio accuses him off attempting to defraud the Inland Revenue of €983,443 (£888,736) during his time at Barcelona.
The Chilean is the fifth Barcelona player who has been alleged with tax offenses as Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Adriano and Samuel Eto’o have all earlier been prosecuted for tax fraud.
The prosecutors claim that Alexis Sanchez has avoided paying tax by “simulating” the transfer of his image rights to Numidia, an offshore shell company in Malta.
The player has failed to declare €587,677 in 2012 and €395,766 in 2013 in his declaration as per the allegations and could face jail time if proved guilty. Earlier this year, Lionel Messi was found guilty of tax fraud and was handed a 21-month jail as the Argentine has done a tax fraud of €4.1million (£3.5million) in the period between 2007 and 2009.
Alexis Sanchez, however, has declared that his image rights are his sole property while signing the contract with Barcelona in 2011. But in 2008 he had already transferred his image rights to Chilean company Inversiones Alsan which has later transferred his image rights to Numidia few months before he signed a new Barca deal.
The 27-year old has been an integral part of Arsenal squad since his move to Emirates in 2014 from Barcelona and has played yet another major role in their thrilling 3-2 victory against Bulgarian champions Ludogorets last night.
November is one of the worst months for Arsenal over the past few years and the Gunners hope their star to stay clean from the allegations made by the authorities.