WE’LL PAY YOU £12M NOT TO PLAY FOR US

United happy to stump up millions to offload flop Sanchez on loan to Inter... Pogba and Lukaku also facing Old Trafford exit

MANCHESTER UNITED could be forced to pay Alexis Sanchez £12million next season NOT to play for them. The Chilean (above) has flopped since moving from Arsenal to Old Trafford 16 months ago, in a deal that saw him sign a four-and-a-half year contract worth £500,000 per week.

And after scoring just one Premier League goal this season, United are desperate to shift Sanchez off the books this summer. Inter Milan are interested in a season-long loan deal in which the Reds would pay half his wages. Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku

IT says everything about the state of Manchester United that one of their least effective players is untouchable because the co-owner sees him as the club’s ‘Pele’.

Anthony Martial has scored only two goals in 13 games since signing a new five-year contract in January worth £200,000 a week.

But club co-chairman Joel Glazer is said to be in thrall to Martial so the indolent striker will escape this summer’s Old Trafford cull.

The United hierarchy have been accused of putting style over substance in the post-sir Alex Ferguson era and Martial’s ringfenced status endorses that perception.

Unlike champions Manchester City and arch-rivals Liverpool, where there is a strategic approach to recruitment, United’s buying policy has no discernible method.

After an outlay of nearly £700million on players in the six years since Fergie retired with the club’s 20th title, United are further away from challenging for the Premier League than ever.

They finished 32 points adrift of City this season, the biggest margin between themselves and the champions since they were relegated in 1974.

This lack of vision has allowed United to drift nearer mid-table than Liverpool and City.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faces a huge rebuilding job, getting rid of players who have let him down and replacing them with signings who have talent and work ethic.

Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia have already left and are likely to be joined by Matteo Darmian, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly, Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.

Solskjaer is looking to bring in young English talent, with Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, Declan Rice of West Ham and Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-bissaka among his targets. A deal for Napoli’s £90m-rated defender Kalidou Koulibaly is moving closer, while United are also pursuing Lille forward Nicolas Pepe and Paris Saint-germain midfielder Adrien Rabiot.

Martial may be staying put, but others will not survive Solskjaer’s clear-out. The most high-profile casualties are set to be £89m clubrecord signing Paul Pogba and highestpaid player Sanchez.

Pogba is pushing for a move to Real Madrid, but Sanchez will be harder to shift, with a loan deal the most probable scenario.

Then there is keeper David De Gea, out of contract next summer and yet to sign a new deal.

United say they will not be pushed into a decision on his future. But with the Spaniard out of form and wanting away, they may cut their losses and cash in.

As Solskjaer admitted after Sunday’s humiliating 2-0 home defeat by Cardiff, it is going to take several transfer windows before bueniintgedtitclaencothnitnekndaebrosu. t

Having made such a mess of recent managerial appointments, United must get it right with their first technical director.

A cultural reset is required, which entails recruiting players with the hunger to take United back to the top, rather than simply taking the huge money on offer.