Sanchez and Ozil take to the bench as Man United heads to Arsenal | Sports

LONDON, Jan. 24 – Alexis Sanchez is a glimpse of Arsenal's move to Manchester United after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as interim caretaker.

Sanchez returns to the UAE for the first time tomorrow in the fourth round of the FA Cup, while Solskjaer is aiming for an eighth consecutive victory since the replacement of Jose Mourinho, sacked.

However, Sanchez has had little impact on United's recovery in recent weeks as Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford have been the biggest players since Solskjaer made public the chains imposed by Mourinho's more conservative approach.

Form and fitness have deserted the Chilean since signing the most lucrative contract in Premier League history last January as part of an exchange that brought Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Arsenal.

Sanchez scored 80 goals in 166 games for the Gunners, but has only managed four times in 32 appearances over the last year for United.

Mourinho strongly defended Sanchez in his first six months at Old Trafford, but even the Portuguese's patience has run out after a series of poor performances this season.

Hamstring and hamstring injury, his efforts to return to the Solskjaer team were a hindrance, but the Norwegian found a winning formula thanks to the agreement formed between Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.

Sanchez started only once, in the previous round of the FA Cup against Reading, since the change of direction.

Solskjaer insisted that he would have the opportunity to impress, but as part of his intention to rotate his front line with United, still involved in three competitions.

"There are the three players who play the most, but then you have Romelu (Lukaku), you have Juan (Mata), you have Alexis, so I have a pre-six on which I can turn," he said. said Solskjaer.

"I was one of the four attackers when we played together. Now we have six forwards and we play with three most of the time.

"We will be able to do the rotation and there will be enough games and play time."

A little of the role is not what United had in mind when he introduced Sanchez with fanfare 12 months ago after defeating his rival Manchester City at his signing.

However, Arsenal also suffered the repercussions of the deal that brought Sanchez to United.

Like Sanchez, Mesut Ozil entered a year ago in the last six months of his contract with Emirates.

Desperate not to lose two of his famous players at a discount, Arsenal has a new three-and-a-half year contract with German worth £ 350,000 (RM 1.9 million) a week.

However, Ozil has more and more been on the bench or even removed from the team of Arsenal boss Unai Emery, in recent weeks, the Spaniard preferring the more energetic approach of Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Aaron Ramsey.

The new agreement signed by Ozil has also financially impeded Emery's attempts to impose his own stamp on Arsenal after 22 years of presence under Arsene Wenger.

The former Paris Saint-Germain coach admitted earlier this month that the club could not afford to sign the signatures definitively this month. Ramsey is expected to join Juventus for a free transfer after the termination of contract negotiations with the Welsh international.

As teammates, Sanchez and Ozil were the stars of an Arsenal team that won the FA Cup in 2015 and 2017.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, the players will be relegated to second place on the substitutes' bench, leaving both clubs to regret the huge salaries they incurred a year ago. – AFP