Manchester United star Alexis Sanchez has been handed a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud in Spain after he accepted the punishment for defrauding tax authorities of £900,000 during his time at Barcelona.

Sanchez, however, will not have to go to prison because it’s his first offence and the sentence is less than two years.

But the 29 year old, who is the highest paid player in the English Premier League, on £350,000-a-week, must pay a fine of £525,000 in addition to the tax he owed on image rights earnings over his three years at the Nou Camp.

The court heard that Sanchez set up a company called Numidia Trading in Malta to avoid paying the tax between 2012 and 2013, having moved his earnings from a Chile-based company called Inversiones Alsan.

Sanchez is the latest big name to become embroiled in the tax investigation into leading figures in Spanish football after the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Javier Mascherano and Ricardo Carvalho.

United manager Jose Mourinho remains under investigation over £2.94 million of unpaid contributions despite claiming at a court hearing in November that his financial affairs are in order.