Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been appointed as the permanent manager of Manchester United, and the appointment has come at the right time considering we are heading into the final stretch of the club football for the season.
The Norwegian has a huge summer coming up, and while signing players is important to challenge for the league title next summer, the club also need to get rid of some of their biggest underperformers to make way for new faces.
#3 Phil Jones
It’s still a mystery how the centre-half is still at the club, to be honest. Although Sir Alex Ferguson brought out the best in him, no manager after the great Scot has been able to use Jones the same way.
The fans have realised that the former Blackburn man is nothing more than an average defender, and the sooner Solskjaer can get rid of the player the better.
Jones is still only 27 and is perhaps in his peaks years as a centre-back, but hasn’t shown the consistency to be a first-team regular, and is just too unreliable to be used as a back-up as well.
The defender signed a contract extension in February, and is currently on wages around £120,000, so it remains to be seen if Solskjaer will be keen to sell the player who is currently the fourth choice centre-half.
#2 Juan Mata
Mata’s contract at the club comes to an end in the summer, and although the Spaniard has impressed in patches, he just hasn’t been able to add the attacking spark to the team.
The Spaniard has been used in different roles in the team, and at 30, he just doesn’t seem to have the legs anymore to take on defensive midfielders or defenders in attack.
Also read: Why Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the right one for Manchester United
Mata’s contract comes to an end in the summer, and the club should let him leave instead of offering him a new deal.
#1 Alexis Sanchez
While many believe Sanchez deserves another season to prove his credentials, we feel it’s just too late for the Chilean. Even if he does perform better, it’s unlikely he’ll even hit the form that he manage during his heydays for Barcelona, Arsenal, and Chile.
All those seasons of continuous football, even in the summer with his national side Chile (the 2014 World Cup, followed by the Copa America, and the Copa America Centenario) seems to have put Sanchez in an eternal burn-out.
Sanchez isn’t getting any younger either, and at 30, isn’t a long-term option for Manchester United. The player is also on incredibly high wages, so the club should get rid of him and sign players who are actually doing well elsewhere and can add more spark to the attack.
