Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has set about trimming Manchester United squad since the very start of his reign.
Marouane Fellaini was sold by the Norwegian when he was still interim manager and he continued that work in the summer.
But there’s still more to be done in terms of trimming the deadwood at Old Trafford, so we’ve taken a look at three players who need to leave in the next 12 months.
Phil Jones
Jones’ woeful 45 minutes against Sheffield United last month underlined the reasons he needs to be shipped out.
He cannot be relied upon to get himself fit enough to play a run of games and is always susceptible to drop a clanger when he is on the pitch.
United have six central defenders at the club and Jones is at the bottom of the pecking order.
Rightly so, and he needs to go somewhere he can get fit and escape the pressure cooker of Old Trafford.
Nemanja Matic
Ander Herrera’s departure without the arrival of a new midfielder left United short in the middle of the park but that hasn’t altered Solskjaer’s thinking on Matic.
He is a relic from the Mourinho era; far too slow in terms of pure speed and also the tempo of his passing.
At 31, he is the opposite to the type of Solskjaer wants to build around and he has proved unable to offer the leadership his experience should provide to United’s young squad.
A move to a league which operates at a slower tempo should see Matic prolong his career but he is no longer fit for purpose in the Premier League.
Alexis Sanchez
Sanchez is already out on loan at Inter but 2020 has to be the year his monster wages are removed from United’s bill on a permanent basis.
He might have offered useful attacking alternative this season, but for the long-term health of the club, he has to leave.
David de Gea and Marcus Rashford could be forgiven if they used the huge disparity between Sanchez’s pay packet and output in their recent contract negotiations which is an example of the knock-on effect he had on the whole club.
The transfer fee isn’t all that important, but no longer being obligated to pay Sanchez is. United have to move on.
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