UNITED SPECIAL Nev: United should bring in Sanchez
UNITED should always be challenging for players of the calibre of Alexis Sanchez, insists Gary Neville.
The former Reds defender was asked about reports linking Jose Mourinho with a possible move for the Arsenal man, whose expected summer transfer to City was thwarted on deadline day.
The United boss strengthened his squad in the summer by adding Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof, but was forced to admit defeat on the fourth player on his transfer wishlist.
That has led to speculation the Reds could be in the market for Sanchez in January, or when his Arsenal contract runs out in the summer. And Neville believes they should be challenging for his signature. “United, from a general perspective, should always be challenging for the best players in the world and bringing them in,” Neville said. “Sanchez has been distracted at Arsenal for the last six months. His career at Arsenal, I couldn’t say a bad word about him until two or three months before the end of last season. “Let’s see how he performs this season at Arsenal. Ultimately, he is still building up his fitness, he’s still not in the team.” JOSE Mourinho rocked a new look in the Old Trafford dugout on Wednesday night and was succinct during his post-match chat with the broadcasters.
“Nothing new, just what I know,” he replied when asked what he had learned.
Little is learnt in a game in which United were dominant against a Championship side, but Mourinho was pleased with the intensity the forwards showed as they killed off Burton so early Luke Shaw was required to warm up in the first half.
Juan Mata made way for Shaw in what was an ambivalent and significant moment in his United career. Five United first-teamers were given the night off by Mourinho.
Phil Jones had a brief warm-up during the second half, Romelu Lukaku sheltered from the Manchester rain, Nemanja Matic observed from the directors’ box and David de Gea spent the evening in his hospitality box.
Mata has joined eight players as one of Mourinho’s untouchables in the 4-2-3-1 formation, which was the scourge of United in the previous two campaigns.
For a coach dogged with accusations of negativity, Mourinho has accommodated two playmakers in Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who had to bide their time on the right before they developed their own telepathy and now dexterously.
United have scored four in 10 fixtures under Mourinho and Mata started in all but one of those matches. He has become undroppable in his manager’s favoured formation and one of the chief reasons United have begun so dynamically is because Mourinho has settled on a team much earlier than he did in his first season.
At Chelsea nearly 11 years ago he coined the tag ‘untouchables.’ The Portuguese refused to shield the impotent Andriy Shevchenko from criticism and individually assured players of their starting berths.
Coincidentally, United now have as many untouchables. dovetail