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Can Alexis Sanchez’s fine Copa America campaign finally kick-start his Man United career?

Andy Mitten |

July 13, 2019

IN football, some signings work, some don’t. There has been a worrying shift towards the latter in the post Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United era and none more so than Alexis Sanchez.

Fans greeted his arrival with even more enthusiasm than other signings. Sanchez was considered to be a world class name at the peak of his game and his huge wages were brushed aside since the only transfer ‘fee’ was Henrikh Mkhitaryan (another underwhelming Old Trafford signing). It helped that he was wanted by his former Barça boss Pep Guardiola at Manchester City too.

United fans waited for him to lift their team in January 2018 and on the evidence of his first game at Yeovil in the FA Cup, one coach messaged me to say: “he’s so much better than anyone else on the field.” You’d expect the Chilean to be better than players of 90th place Yeovil, if not those in red around him. But it was the right start and United hoped they’d bought a Cantona- style match winner. If only. He’s been a dud match which couldn’t light up a cigarette.

It hasn’t happened for Sanchez at United. He’s been played in his best position, the left of a three where he once used to attack and drive inside on the right foot – with little effect.

Arsenal may be suspect defensively, but he was a free spirit in their attack charged with exciting fans rather than defending. Even there, with hindsight, Sanchez was declining, scoring half as many goals per game in 17-18 as he had in 16-17 when he scored 24 league goals.

At United under Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese worried first about opponents and getting his defence right. United were a low scoring side and still are. Sanchez was not suited to the defensive side of United’s game and it showed, especially in Mourinho’s body language when he was slow to retreat. From Sanchez’s perspective, he knows what United fans think of him, that the groundswell of support for him has ebbed to almost nothing. It’s not easy for a player when you know your own fans have no belief in you.

His wages are a huge issue too since they shattered the wage structure at United and led to other, better players looking for parity. Sanchez is far from the most popular player in the dressing room, though the wages are hardly his fault since he agent only cut the best deal for his client that he could and found a near-perfect scenario as both Manchester clubs wanted him and one was more desperate than the other. But his inflated pay has heaped pressure on him, making him nigh impossible to move on since nobody is willing to shell out even close to what he’s on in Manchester.

There are other issues. He’s in a new city which is very different from Barcelona and London where he’d lived previously. He split from his long-term partner and he’s played in an underachieving side which has shifted styles and managers.

But there’s still little sympathy for him. He’s paid a great deal to do a job and he’s not been doing it and he’s had remarkable little flak from fans. 

What happens next? He showed that he can still be a decent player in red and white when he played for an attacking, aggressive Chile in Copa America, where the pressure was less. That or he cares more about playing for his country than his club. He’s not finished, even if he looks it at Old Trafford.

Sanchez, 30, has a contract for three more full seasons – yes, really – and he will get chances if, as expected, stays at United. He’s failed so far but I’d still love him to come good, to play a significant role, to enjoy playing football for his club again. I’d also like world peace, football clubs to be owned by supporters and for Liverpool not to be European champions.

He’s not in Australia where United’s pre-season tour has started because of injury – another one – and the Copa America. A year ago, he joined the pre-season tour in America and appeared totally committed to his football. He did no media; he trained hard after his first summer without football in nine years. But it just didn’t happen for him. He started only nine league games and 13 in total, managing only two goals.

There have been a few false dawns that Sanchez would come good in Manchester, but you struggle to find fans convinced that Sanchez can ever have a decent United career now, no matter how many time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described his number 7 as “hungry” to do well. He’d need to play well for five or six games to pick the belief which fans have in him off the floor.

United would get rid of Sanchez tomorrow if anyone would take him off their hands, but who would do that given the wages he’s on? This isn’t Messi they’re signing.

Sanchez played a leading role in ‘My friend Alexis’, a film released this year about a young Chilean boy who dreams of following his hero. In it, Alexis remembered the reason why he loved football in the first place.

Sanchez’s career otherwise has been a success. He was outstanding in Chile, especially so Udinese, decent at Barça, very initially decent at Arsenal. Oh, for him to remember not only why he loves football in real life but to how to play it as well as he once did.     

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