Manchester United could reportedly face paying £36 million to Alexis Sanchez if his proposed move to Inter Milan, initially on loan, is made permanent next summer. The Series A side
Inter are reported to only be offering Sanchez a wage of £150,000 per week, which is around £350,000 short of his reported wage at United after he signed for the club, from Arsenal, in January 2018. It will most likely be a learning curve for Ed Woodward, who sorted out the deal. Perhaps he’s learned that signing big named players is not the best way forward.
Sanchez will turn 31 in 2020 and to be honest, after the failure his signing has been, United will either have to keep him at the club, paying him each week, or offering a lump sum just to get rid of him. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, despite what has been said publicly does not seem all that keen to keep the player at the club this season.
During his time at United, Sanchez has played a total of 45 times, scoring five goals – three of those in the Premier League. Some supporters did not want to write him off, seemingly giving him many chances to shine, which just did not happen. Based on the wage he’s on at United, he is one expensive flop for the club, a mistake not to make again.
It is suggested that after a season on loan, Inter could purchase Sanchez for around £14 million, which would offset the amount that United would need to spend on the player, just to get him to leave. Signing him was a gamble. If it worked, it would have been money well spent. As it has not worked and shows few signs of working, it is a massive waste of money.
Sanchez could link up with Romelu Lukaku at the San Siro club this season if his loan spell is approved and everything runs smoothly. Earlier in the summer, it was suggested that Inter did not have a lot of money, however, in signing Lukaku and looking to get Sanchez and others, it would seem that was misinformation or a way to pay less for players.
Sanchez was the first Chilean to play for United and probably the last. There was a lot of opportunities for him to succeed at the club but it just has not worked. Since Solskjaer arrived at the club in December 2018, it was clear that Sanchez was not seen as a player that the Norwegian would have in his team, him wanting to trust youth instead.
Based on the young players already at the club, allowing them to leave in order to keep playing Sanchez would be a travesty. Of course, there will be supporters annoyed at the club letting Sanchez leave, them seemingly thinking that giving him more time will heed great results. I don’t think it will, as much as I would have liked to see him achieve.
The best thing that could happen here is that Sanchez leaves this summer, had a good loan season in Italy and the club buys him next summer. It will always be costly for United but then he will be off the books. Ed Woodward also needs to learn that big names will not always fit into a team. Him learning about the game is crucial all the more now.
