With 350,000 pounds-a-week wage figure, one would expect Alexis Sanchez to be scoring worldies, taking on defenders, making goalkeepers quaver with his nifty feet at Manchester United, right? Unfortunately, that has not been the case for the Red Devils who are still struggling to find their aura of dominance under Jose Mourinho.
It's been a frustrating spell for the Chilean international whose arrival in the winter was hailed by many despite it connoting that the likes of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford may have their chances of rapidly developing impeded.
Considering what he had achieved with the Gunners prior to getting his wish of securing a move away fulfilled, dubbing Alexis Sanchez's signing for Manchester United as merely 'great' would have been an understatement. However, it has been past 11 months since he completed his switch and the anticipated returns on his part are yet to be yielded.
The ex-Barcelona winger has made 30 appearances across all competitions for the Red Devils but despite featuring in the attack, has managed just four goals. In this season alone, Sanchez has been on the scoring sheet once in 12 appearances.
Although this is not to say that the Chilean may never come good, the tag that he may be the potential savior for the Red Devils might have been exaggerated. A player who was once a hero at Emirates has only been reduced to the bench at Old Trafford as a result of recurring poor peformances. On Wednesday, an injury would not permit the 29-year-old winger to be in contention when his old pals come to town in their sparkling form.
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From a purely business standpoint, it will not be the worst idea should the Manchester United hierarchy consider cutting the club's losses and sanction the sale of the forward even before his value diminishes the more. As seen in recent time, the decision to play Anthony Martial ahead of Sanchez seems to be paying off with the Frenchman being his side's standout performer in the campaign thus far.
That withstanding, the impact of Sanchez's exit will not be much felt by Jose's side. It will only abruptly halt the repetitive cycle of the club looking for 'the next Cristiano Ronaldo' which has evidently failed to work out.
Furthermore, there is the case of Manchester United possibly activating the clause to buy-back Lyon's high-soaring Memphis Depay. Certainly not a bad idea, is it?
