The ex-Gunners star believes a forward who impressed in north London could yet come to be a key man at Old Trafford after a slow start with the Red Devils.
Alexis Sanchez is capable of rediscovering his Arsenal form at Manchester United, says Paul Merson, with no one anticipated to spend huge on the Chilean forward in the subsequent transfer window.
The Red Devils thought they had pulled off quite the coup when luring a established Premier League performer away from Emirates Stadium in January 2018.
Sanchez has, however, struggled to find a spark at Old Trafford and is presently taking in a season-long loan at Serie A giants Inter. They are not likely to take up a purchase option, which means that the 31-year-old is going to be forced back to England.
It may additionally be that he is offered a clean slate in Manchester, with Merson tipping a man who hit eighty goals in 166 appearances for Arsenal to make the most of another clean start.
The former Gunners star told Sky Sports, with the Red Devils unlikely to make investments heavily in discovering a replacement for Sanchez: “With what’s presently going on, I can not see a team going out and spending £100m on a player anymore.
“Teams are going to have to stick with what they’ve got so Manchester United keeping hold of Alexis Sanchez and bringing him back into the fold would come as no surprise.
“The other options would be to go and find a replacement and they would have to spend £60m or £70m to do it. I simply do not think clubs are going to do that anymore, and actually, I do not think people care.
“The clubs can not ask the government to pay the wages of their team of workers and then once this has passed, and with a bit of luck it will, go and spend £60m, £70m and even £80m on players. That’s taking the mick at the highest level! For that reason, I can understand Sanchez coming back to play a part at Old Trafford because, on his day, he is a outstanding player.
“After this, people are going to appreciate things a lot more now – and that consists of some of the footballers who get bundles of money and think they can just stroll through. Sanchez was one of those players, however I think he will in all likelihood now think this life goes very quickly, especially a soccer career.
“Players might start to appreciate that more and he could come back, work hard and be a success because you can not go from being that good at Arsenal to be that horrific at Manchester United, you just can’t.
“It’s certainly a better United than the one he left too. They were flying before the suspension of the league. They’ve had some outstanding performances and some awesome results so that will benefit him too.
“He’s got to come back and appreciate he’s at one of the biggest clubs in the world, if not the biggest. There is logic in Sanchez going back at Old Trafford, he is a top player and if they can get even half of the player he used to be at Barcelona and Arsenal back, he’ll be an asset.”
