Manchester United: Alexis Sanchez to stay and play 'more than you expect', says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Chilean has failed to live up to expectations at Old Trafford

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that Alexis Sanchez will stay at Manchester United and is confident that the 30-year-old will come good at Old Trafford.

Sanchez reported back for duty late after playing at the Copa America with Chile and was not fit enough to be included in United’s match day squad last week.

United’s highest-earning player has fallen out of favour under Solskjaer, with no guarantees that he will be come straight back into the starting line-up once fit.

Solskjaer insisted that Sanchez can still be a success at Old Trafford, however, denying suggestions that Sanchez had been relegated to the reserves.

“Alexis is such a professional and he comes in working every single day really hard,” he said. “He wants to be a part of this and of course, it’s these stories he’s been put in the reserves.

“Of course he hasn’t. He’s part of our squad and he is a really good player. He has had three weeks now, so he’s a few weeks behind the rest but 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," Solskjaer added. "We expect him to come good at this club, he's quality."

Sanchez played in a recent behind-closed-doors game against Blackburn Rovers Under-23s and Solskjaer said more would be organised to get the Chilean up to speed.

“He’ll be gradually integrated into more and more playing time, but we’ll have more behind closed doors games because with one game a week now it’s hard to keep everyone ticking. We are arranging a few of them.“

Solskjaer is similarly optimistic about Fred, who struggled during his first year at Old Trafford after joining in a £52m deal from Shakhtar Donetsk last summer.

“Your team will always play better if you’re settled and have a good foundation and not conceding goals. Good teams I played in we always had a strong base, with a ‘keeper, a settled backline.

“We hope to provide that for our attackers and midfielders and we believe Fred is going to have a big season as well.”