UNITED’S £50m PROBLEM
Solskjaer risks being stuck with Sanchez
ALEXIS SANCHEZ will return to Manchester United next month and hand the club a £50million dilemma. The Chile winger is due back at United on August 7 when his loan deal at Inter Milan officially runs out, with nearly two years remaining on his £25m-a-year contract at Old Trafford.
His refusal to take a pay cut will be a major stumbling block to securing another move, and it’s understood that Sanchez also wants to stay in Europe rather than play in China or the Middle East.
Unless United can find a solution, they risk being stuck with the 31-year-old player and his astronomical salary until the contract ends on June 30, 2022.
That scenario would appear to suit neither party. United have moved on without Sanchez this season as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continues to build a young, vibrant team.
Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford have blossomed in the wide positions vacated by Sanchez, and England winger Jadon Sancho will be another option if he signs from Borussia Dortmund.
Sanchez, meanwhile, is happy in Italy after recovering from a poor start and a dislocated left ankle in October to produce better form recently.
Although he has only scored two goals in 23 games on loan at Inter, he claimed a seventh assist of the season in Monday’s 3-1 win over Torino. The former Udinese forward speaks Italian and is settled at the San Siro along with his former United teammates Romelu Lukaku and Ashley Young.
Coach Antonio Conte would like to keep Sanchez, but Inter are reluctant to commit to a £20m transfer for a player who turns 32 in December and has a poor injury record.
Another loan next season may be United’s best hope, although Sportsmail understands that talks have yet to take place between the club and Inter.
The Italians have been paying half of Sanchez’s £300,000-a-week basic salary, but United will carry the full burden once he plays his last game for Conte’s side against Atalanta on August 2 and returns to England later that week.
Sanchez cannot even help Solskjaer’s side in the Europa League when it resumes next month because he has already played for Inter in the competition.
United are paying the price for handing Sanchez the most lucrative contract in the Premier League when they outbid Manchester City to sign him from Arsenal on a four-and-a-half-year deal in January 2018.
As well as earning a basic £20.4m a year in wages and image rights, Sanchez receives an extra £1.1m annually as part of his signing-on fee plus bonuses that potentially take his pay to £25m.
Despite United’s outlay, he only scored five goals in 45 games for the club while Rashford, Anthony Martial and Greenwood have 58 between them already this season.
However, hopes of Champions League qualification were dented on Monday night when Southampton scored a stoppage-time equaliser at Old Trafford after Luke Shaw and Brandon Williams went off injured.
Shaw had treatment on a twisted ankle at Carrington yesterday in an attempt to be fit for tomorrow’s trip to Crystal Palace, while Williams was also at the training ground with stitches in a cut by his left eye that is not thought to be too serious.