Home » Teams » Arsenal » (Image) Likely Manchester United lineup post January window fitting in £180m Sanchez

(Image) Likely Manchester United lineup post January window fitting in £180m Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez

(Image) Likely Manchester United lineup post January window fitting in £180m Sanchez

Manchester United are about to complete their first signing of the January transfer window by signing Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan going in the opposite direction. The deal for Sanchez is said to be worth £180m.

Sanchez is certainly one of the best attackers in world football as he has proved via his displays for the Gunners throughout the years. At times, it has looked as if the Chile international and Mesut Ozil have been the only ones carrying Arsene Wenger’s side.

Sanchez is a player who enjoys playing regular football and working hard. So he will definitely not want to be a squad rotation player. Due to his versatility however, United will have an advantage in knowing that they could play him in a variety of attacking positions.

Following the signing of Alexandre Lacazette by Arsenal, Sanchez had to adapt this season as he was moved to a deeper role to form a narrow front three with the Frenchman and Mesut Ozil.  However, United should ideally not consider this as it could have an impact on Jesse Lingard. The Englishman has been arguably United’s best player in recent weeks and taking him out of the No.10 role could have a serious impact on his form.

Juan Mata has fit in well on the right-wing this season and Sanchez could slot on the left-wing. Youngsters Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have been battling it out for the left-wing position this season with mixed-results and they could be the men who’d see their game time get reduced due to the arrival of Sanchez.

Putting Sanchez on the left-wing will have a serious impact on the chances of first-team football for Rashford and Martial but it appears to be the most logical decision.

Another option that Mourinho could use is deploying Sanchez as a striker. After he scored 30 goals in all competitions last season, it can be argued that putting the player up front is the key to unlocking his true scoring potential as a part of a 3-5-2 or an attack-minded 4-4-2.

That will likely turn out to be a waste of the wider players that Mourinho has at his disposal. This is how United could line up with Sanchez in the mix.

Probable United XI

Goalkeeper – David De Gea

Right-back – Antonio Valencia

Centre-back – Phil Jones and Chris Smalling

Left-back – Luke Shaw

Central Midfield – Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic

Attacking Midfield – Jesse Lingard

Right-wing – Marcus Rashford

Centre Forward – Romelu Lukaku

Left-wing – Alexis Sanchez