Solskjaer might have to back up what he said about Alexis Sanchez
When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told a press conference at the end of January that Alexis Sanchez would return to Manchester United and "prove you all wrong", it confirmed the suspicion that the writing was already on the wall for the Chilean at Inter Milan.
Sanchez's loan spell at the San Siro was supposed to lead to a permanent departure from Old Trafford, giving him a chance to rediscover the sparkle that has deserted his football from the moment he signed for United in January 2018.
Instead it's simply been more of the same. There have been brief moments of encouragement under a manager, in Antonio Conte, who is an admirer, but injuries and form have halted any threat of momentum. Sanchez has played just 655 minutes of football for the Nerazzurri so far this season, only 238 of those in Serie A.
So the chances of Inter taking the decision to sign the 31-year-old on a permanent basis were already close to non-existent. Now it's a certainty, and it's difficult to see where Sanchez goes from here, other than back to Old Trafford where Solskjaer will hope the former Arsenal and Barcelona forward can back his own claim in January.
Sanchez's near £400,000-a-week wage at Old Trafford is now toxic in an era where the financial landscape in football is being rewritten as clubs come to terms with the damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
With players all over Europe taking pay cuts and clubs accepting the likelihood that they won't be earning any matchday revenue until next year at least, this is going to be a summer of cost-cutting and low-key deals on the continent. A 31-year-old who hasn't played consistently well for two-and-a-half years, on one of the most attractive salaries in the game, is not going to be featuring on any shopping list.
United are left with an impossible decision this summer. While Solskjaer would no doubt prefer to continue building his squad around youngsters, and the club would like to make the considerable savings on Sanchez's wage themselves, there is no way out. Paying him off isn't going to achieve that and even if United can find another club willing to take him on loan, they will surely commit to paying only a fraction of those wages.
The most likely scenario has to be that Sanchez is back in Manchester next season. Then the challenge for Solskjaer is how to accommodate him.
This is a player who has never looked at home at the club and, according to reports, never really settled in the city. The prospect of another season at United is unlikely to inspire Sanchez, but Solskjaer might need to find a way to try and get the best out of him, whatever level the best of Sanchez now is.
There's been no shortage of Sanchez supporters queuing up to insist he can still rediscover his best form and at 31 he remains young enough to do so, even if his best days are increasingly difficult to see in the rear-view mirror.
There's no obvious first-team place for him under Solskjaer next season and a squad player on £400,000 a week isn't exactly good for morale, an issue the Norwegian is particularly attuned to. But there would appear to be little option for United.
The club are now hamstrung by the four-and-a-half-year deal they handed the player. This summer Sanchez will still have two years left on that lucrative contract, a total sum of well over £30million that would be a considerable boost to the budget this summer.
Instead United almost certainly have to get used to the idea that they are stuck with Sanchez for another season. Solskjaer backed him in January to prove everyone wrong, now he'll be hoping he can prove he was right next season, because he's pretty much alone in holding that view at the moment.
Sanchez's loan spell at the San Siro was supposed to lead to a permanent departure from Old Trafford, giving him a chance to rediscover the sparkle that has deserted his football from the moment he signed for United in January 2018.
Instead it's simply been more of the same. There have been brief moments of encouragement under a manager, in Antonio Conte, who is an admirer, but injuries and form have halted any threat of momentum. Sanchez has played just 655 minutes of football for the Nerazzurri so far this season, only 238 of those in Serie A.
So the chances of Inter taking the decision to sign the 31-year-old on a permanent basis were already close to non-existent. Now it's a certainty, and it's difficult to see where Sanchez goes from here, other than back to Old Trafford where Solskjaer will hope the former Arsenal and Barcelona forward can back his own claim in January.
Sanchez's near £400,000-a-week wage at Old Trafford is now toxic in an era where the financial landscape in football is being rewritten as clubs come to terms with the damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
With players all over Europe taking pay cuts and clubs accepting the likelihood that they won't be earning any matchday revenue until next year at least, this is going to be a summer of cost-cutting and low-key deals on the continent. A 31-year-old who hasn't played consistently well for two-and-a-half years, on one of the most attractive salaries in the game, is not going to be featuring on any shopping list.
United are left with an impossible decision this summer. While Solskjaer would no doubt prefer to continue building his squad around youngsters, and the club would like to make the considerable savings on Sanchez's wage themselves, there is no way out. Paying him off isn't going to achieve that and even if United can find another club willing to take him on loan, they will surely commit to paying only a fraction of those wages.
The most likely scenario has to be that Sanchez is back in Manchester next season. Then the challenge for Solskjaer is how to accommodate him.
This is a player who has never looked at home at the club and, according to reports, never really settled in the city. The prospect of another season at United is unlikely to inspire Sanchez, but Solskjaer might need to find a way to try and get the best out of him, whatever level the best of Sanchez now is.
There's been no shortage of Sanchez supporters queuing up to insist he can still rediscover his best form and at 31 he remains young enough to do so, even if his best days are increasingly difficult to see in the rear-view mirror.
There's no obvious first-team place for him under Solskjaer next season and a squad player on £400,000 a week isn't exactly good for morale, an issue the Norwegian is particularly attuned to. But there would appear to be little option for United.
The club are now hamstrung by the four-and-a-half-year deal they handed the player. This summer Sanchez will still have two years left on that lucrative contract, a total sum of well over £30million that would be a considerable boost to the budget this summer.
Instead United almost certainly have to get used to the idea that they are stuck with Sanchez for another season. Solskjaer backed him in January to prove everyone wrong, now he'll be hoping he can prove he was right next season, because he's pretty much alone in holding that view at the moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment