ALEXIS SANCHEZ COULD be set to join Inter Milan on loan.
Manchester United’s highest-earner, who is on a reported £500,000-a-week at Old Trafford, has failed to deliver since arriving from Arsenal in January 2018.
That huge figure is a stumbling block for any potential club, but the Serie A side are keen to take 30-year-old Sanchez for the season — with a view to signing him permanently next summer — in a deal that would see them pay half his wages.
Inter boss Antonio Conte recently secured the services of Romelu Lukaku from United, and Sky Sports are reporting that he may undergo a medical as early as today after talks between the clubs.
If he exits before the 2 September European transfer window closes, that would leave Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood as the only remaining senior strikers on the books at the Theatre of Dreams.
Greenwood, who signed his first professional contract with United in 2018, scored three goals during the club’s pre-season tour, leading to calls for him to earn a regular spot in Solskjaer’s starting XI.
However, the Norwegian ultimately opted to start Martial through the middle for United’s season opener against Chelsea on 11 August, with Rashford pushed out onto the left.
Rashford grabbed a brace and Martial also found the net in a 4-0 victory, but Solskjaer insists that Greenwood has the upper hand on his attacking colleagues in one key area.
The 17-year-old came on as a late substitute against the Blues and will be in contention to retain a place on the bench for United’s trip to Molineux to face Wolves tonight, with his manager’s latest words of praise likely to fuel his desire to make an impact.
When asked who was the better natural finisher out of Martial and Rashford, Solskjaer told MUTV: “Natural finisher? Well, they’ve still got a way to go, because Mason’s more of a natural finisher than those two.”
Solskjær: "Better natural finisher out of Martial and Rashford? They've still got a way to go because Mason's more of a natural finisher." #mulive [mu] pic.twitter.com/82SgwC0s2o
— utdreport (@utdreport) August 19, 2019
The Red Devils head coach also discussed how he plans to rotate his forward line throughout the 2019-20 campaign, adding: “Anthony’s had spells where he’s played No.9 or centre forward under Louis van Gaal.
“Then he’s played on the left the last few years. I think him and Marcus are both capable of playing both positions.
”Sometimes, it will be Marcus playing through the middle and Anthony on the left, or Dan James on the left and one of them on the right, but, of course, the goals are scored from between the posts and not the worldies that we’ve seen them score, both of them.
Marcus and Anthony, curlers up in the top corner. I want both of them to score the easy goals. You don’t have to work too hard to score them, just a little bit of movement. It was a great counterattack [against Chelsea], great runs by Anthony.
“I think maybe he felt he should have got the first pass, which went out wide to Jesse [Lingard] and he stopped. But then, he got himself back in a good position and, even though he might have mis-hit it, it went in. So, if he can get five extra goals like this every season, both of them, that’s 10.”
