Inter Milan may keep Sanchez next season

Inter Milan are interested in keeping Alexis Sanchez at the club for next season, and may attempt to extend his loan by a further year.

The 31-year-old Chilean forward made only a handful of appearances for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and left to join up with Antonio Conte at Inter in Italy. The club agreed a loan deal with no option to buy, and he struggled for form and with injury in his first - and potentially only - season with Inter.

His chances were further limited by the postponement of some of the second half of the Serie A season because of the coronavirus, though the club were able to extend his loan deal to cover the remaining games, as did fellow Italian side Roma with their on-loan United defender, Chris Smalling.

The outbreak of Covid-19 may mean that United will struggle to find a permanent destination for Sanchez given his £400,000-a-week wages, with Inter believed to be paying around half that.

While Solskjaer would prefer to move on Sanchez permanently, they may have to accept another loan deal to prevent his return to a team that he does not particularly wish to play for, and to soften the financial impact of keeping him on the books indefinitely.

For their part, Inter Milan are open to keeping Sanchez on for a further season according to Sky Italia, perhaps reasoning that despite his hefty wages, the recent enforced break may have given him time to recover from his various strains as a result of playing so much football over the past decade, and they would prefer to carry the burden of half his wages rather than spend a transfer fee on finding a replacement.

Sanchez is just one player with links to United at Inter, as Ashley Young joined them in the winter transfer window and Romelu Lukaku the previous summer.