When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made it public that Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial will miss about 2 to 3 weeks of football, many Manchester United fans cast their glances at the man who they’d have to resort to dealing with for the next few games. Things aren’t going right for Alexis Sanchez, with just about everything again him, but this period will be the Chilean’s most important part of his career.
As things stand, it seems as though the ongoing bad times will go onto overshadow the good times Alexis has had in his career. The recent struggles have made him look as though he has always been a bad player and have shaped his reputation to be someone who only cares about the money. And as long as its coming by, he wouldn’t care too much. And it gives the impression that he’s always been this way.
But if if there’s anytime that he can use to alter his reputation, it is this. With United to face Chelsea and then Liverpool in the next 2 games, Solskjaer will be without both Lingard and Martial. They are two players who have been very important in the way the Norwegian has turned things around. Of course, Sanchez has scored against Arsenal in the FA Cup but he has been a big disappointment otherwise.
He hasn’t been a fan favorite. But some goals that he has scored have been very important. The winner against Newcastle under Jose Mourinho or the goal against Arsenal, he seems to shine more in the bigger games than the lesser ones. And he seems to thrive off expectation, instead of crippling under the weight of it. Even last season against Manchester City, Sanchez got 2 assists to take United to a 3-2 win at the Etihad. That was one of the best performances he’s had in a famed red shirt.
He certainly disappointed after coming on against PSG, but he will have two more gos to prove himself. United have the big chance of making sure that Liverpool comeback down to second during the game at Old Trafford and have the chance to go into the next round of the FA Cup by beating the much-maligned Chelsea. Those games are big tests for Solskjaer too, who has all of a sudden become a not-so-sure candidate for the job on a permanent basis.
More than that, it is a crucial point of Alexis’ career. Not just at United, but otherwise too. His career at Arsenal has been overshadowed by how he left the club for United last January. What he did at Barcelona has been overshadowed by what is going on and many have already forgotten about how good he was and how good he still can be.
And if Alexis thrives during the time when Martial and Lingard aren’t there and everyone has lost hope, many things will change. People won’t call him a ‘money grabber’ anymore. It will be reminiscent of what he once was and how good he actually is. And it will bring about a new start to his career.
