"We can not afford to carry players"

OGunnar Solskjaer told Alexis Sanchez and his teammates that Manchester United could not afford to carry players if they wanted to stop the decline of the club.

The manager has made it clear that restoring Manchester to the top of the English game would be a long-term project after seeing his Champions League run come to a close on Wednesday in Barcelona.

Solskjaer is increasingly frustrated by the performance of his team over the last six weeks. United lost five games out of seven as he prepared for Sunday's trip to Everton.

He plans to reduce his squad over the summer, with Sanchez's long-term future in the air after 15 tough months at Old Trafford.

The Chilean striker has scored just two goals during the season and has only started five matches in all competitions since Solskjaer took over at Old Trafford, initially as interim goalkeeper December 19th.

Sanchez, who suffers from injury problems since joining United in January 2018, could prove difficult to unload because his contract until 2022 is worth more than £ 400,000 a week, considering premiums.

Solskjaer, however, will not allow squad pbadengers he has clearly formulated to become more fit and redouble efforts to avoid the repeat of next season's gap of more than 20 points that opened between them and the leaders of the Premier League.