Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Alexis Sanchez will come good for the club this season despite struggling to make a notable impression in the past 19 months. The Chile international has managed just five goals from 45 appearances for the Red Devils since making the move from Arsenal in January 2018, but Solskjaer remains optimistic that the 30-year-old can redeem himself at the club.

Speaking to MUTV, Solskjaer said that Sanchez remains a crucial member of the first-team squad and the speculation that he has been dropped to the reserves for disciplinary reasons remains false, he told: “Alexis is such a professional. He comes in every single day, working really hard, and he wants to be a part of this. Of course, there have been [media] stories again, [saying] that he has been put in the Reserves. Of course he hasn’t! He’s part of our squad and he’s a very, very good player.”

He added that the club could benefit from the player’s services in the centre-forward role where he had much success at Arsenal, he continued: “He’s just had a couple of weeks, three weeks now, so he’s a few weeks behind the rest, but he’s very close to being part of it. We don’t have the biggest forward line in

numbers, so Alexis might end up playing a lot more games than you expect. Because we expect him to come good at this club. He’s quality.”

The Red Devils decided to sanction the sale of Romelu Lukaku before the transfer deadline this month without pursuing a successor. As such, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford remain the only senior options to occupy the centre-forward role at the moment and they could need some help from Sanchez and young Mason Greenwood, particularly with the work across four competitions.

United started the new league campaign in stunning fashion with a 4-0 thrashing of top-four rivals Chelsea. They are expected to face Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux on Monday night with the aim of probably topping the league table with another victory.