Alexis Sanchez could be leaving Old Trafford, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said after his side fell to a draw at Wolverhampton Wolves.
During Friday’s press conference Solskjaer appeared to end talk of Sanchez leaving, despite the Chilean failing to achieve anywhere near his best since joining from Arsenal in January 2018.
Solskjaer spoke about his belief that Sanchez, 30, would come good at United – but just days later the manager opened the door to an exit by the Premier League’s highest-paid player.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appeared to leave the door open to the departure of Alexis Sanchez (Adam Davy/PA)
PA news agency understands Inter Milan are interested in bringing the forward to San Siro, having already completed a move for United striker Romelu Lukaku earlier in the summer.
Asked about Sanchez’s future after Monday’s 1-1 draw at Wolves, Solskjaer said: “Well, there’s still a couple of weeks left of the transfer window and there is a chance… some clubs have shown interest in Alexis, so we’ll see what happens. Can’t update you more than that.”
It was the United manager’s final answer of a post-match press conference that was dominated by Pogba’s fourth Premier League penalty miss since the start of last season.
After Ruben Neves superbly cancelled out a fine Anthony Martial opener at Molineux, the World Cup winner took the second-half spot-kick he won – despite Marcus Rashford’s successful conversion in the win against Chelsea.
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Rui Patricio saved the spot-kick and, angered by the players’ discussion about the taker, United great Gary Neville said: “This is a Manchester United penalty, this is not tombola.”
Solskjaer later confirmed Rashford and Pogba were the two designated penalty takers and said does not feel he needs to address spot-kicks.
“Not at all,” he said. “The two of them are confident and good penalty takers and I’ve been in that situation myself, gone up and missed a penalty for Norway.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba appears dejected after missing a crucial penalty against Wolves (Nick Potts/PA)
“When there’s two names there, it’s the one who’s the most confident and Paul has scored so many before, so absolutely no problem.
“It doesn’t have to be (one taker), no.
“Because sometimes in a game you do grow in confidence. Sometimes ‘I don’t want to take it today because I had a bad day’.
“Absolutely no problem with players walking up and saying, ‘this is mine’.”
Wolves counterpart Nuno Espirito Santo was pleased to see his side emerge from a hard-fought encounter with a point, especially given they are juggling the opening Premier League fixtures with Europa League exertions.
Neves was among nine changes from the win against Pyunik last week and scored an exquisite leveller to send Molineux wild.
But elation temporarily turned to frustration as referee Jon Moss pointed to his ear as the video assistant referee checked the goal, with chants of “f*** VAR” echoing around the ground before the equaliser was given the green light.
“It was a very, very good goal,” Nuno said. “Ruben kicked the ball well, put it out of the reach of the goalkeeper. Just there, spot on. Very good kick.”
Quizzed about the amount of time it took to award it, the Wolves boss said: “That’s what is worrying me.
“What I am afraid of is will we will be afraid to celebrate a goal? This is energy at Molineux, the sound, this atmosphere – we cannot lose, we cannot lose.
“They have to find a solution for it. Please do it.”
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