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Inter Milan hope to take Manchester United's Alexis Sanchez on season-long loan
Inter Milan have enquired about the prospect of signing Manchester United’s misfit striker Alexis Sanchez on a season long loan before the Italian transfer window closes on September 2.
Sanchez - who is thought to have rejected a loan move to Roma this month - is understood to be keen on following Romelu Lukaku to the Italian club.
The Belgium striker - with whom Sanchez is close - joined Inter in a £74m deal on August 8.
Reports in Italy have suggested Sanchez could have a medical as early as Tuesday but, while a deal could progress quickly if an agreement can be struck over the Chile striker’s wages and loan terms, there are believed to be several obstacles still to overcome. Well placed sources at Old Trafford have indicated a possible deal is still in its infancy.
United would have to heavily subsidise Sanchez’s wages of over £500,000 a week, which have had a damaging effect on the Old Trafford salary structure.
Antonio Conte, the Inter coach and former Chelsea manager, has turned his sights to Sanchez after another target, Edin Dzeko - a different type of striker to Sanchez - signed a new contract to stay with Roma.
It is unclear at this stage if United would demand a loan fee for Sanchez, given the complications his enormous wages create. Italian reports have claimed Inter could propose an option to buy Sanchez for €15m next summer.
Despite United’s willingness to offload Sanchez, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said publicly on several occasions in the last fortnight that he expects the Chilean to remain at the club beyond the close of the European windows on September 2.
Sanchez has been a spectacular flop since his move from Arsenal in January last year, scoring just five goals in 45 appearances, although any potential departure could leave United light upfront, especially if they were to suffer an injury to one of their principal strikers, Marcus Rashford or Anthony Martial.
Solskjaer acknowledged as much on Friday when he said: “We don't have the biggest forward line in numbers, so Alexis might end up playing a lot more games than you expect. We expect him to come good at this club. He's quality.”
Whether or not Sanchez remains with United this season, Solskjaer wants Martial and Rashford to boost their goals tallies by becoming better penalty box predators - but says Mason Greenwood is a more natural finisher than either of his first choice strikers.
Martial scored from inside the six-yard box in the 4-0 win over Chelsea when he turned in Andreas Pereira’s cross and Solskjaer believes the France striker and Rashford can add at least another 10 goals if they improve their movement in those positions.
And the United manager has thrown the gauntlet down to the pair by claiming 17-year-old Greenwood is still the best finisher he has in his squad.
“They’ve [Martial and Rashford] still got a way to go because Mason’s more of a natural finisher than them two,” Solskjaer said.
“I want both of them to be more scoring easy goals because you don’t have to work too hard to score them, just a little bit of movement.
“It was a great counter-attack (against Chelsea), great runs by Anthony and I think maybe he felt he should have got the first pass, it went a little bit wide out to Jesse (Lingard) and he stopped. But then he got himself back in a good position and even though he might have mishit it, it went in, so if you can get five extra goals like this every season, both of them, that’s 10.”
Solskjaer expects Martial and Rashford to form a fluid pairing, with them interchanging between central and left attacking positions.
“Anthony’s had spells when he’s played number nine as a centre-forward under (Louis) van Gaal, then he’s played on the left the last few years,” Solskjaer added.
“I think him and Marcus are both capable of playing both positions. Sometimes it will be Marcus through the middle and Anthony on the left, or Dan James on the left and maybe one of them on the right. But of course the goals are scored from between the posts and not all are the worldies that we’ve seen them score, both of them, Marcus and Anthony with curlers in the top corner or dribbles.”
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