Jose Mourinho confirms Alexis Sanchez is in the Manchester United squad to face Yeovil in FA Cup, as he warns Chilean's arrival means stars must fight to keep their places

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Alexis Sanchez is in the Manchester United squad to face Yeovil in the FA Cup on Friday night with Jose Mourinho warning that his new signing will put players under pressure for their places.

Sanchez could make his debut against the League Two strugglers at Huish Park after completing his move from Arsenal in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Mourinho confirmed Sanchez’s inclusion on Thursday and admitted that the Chile star’s arrival will force Romelu Lukaku, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford to fight for a place in the team. 

Alexis Sanchez was pictured arriving at Carrington ahead of Manchester United training

Sanchez trained with his new team-mates ahead of United's clash with Yeovil on Friday

‘This is life in big clubs,’ he said. ‘It’s a very, very important addition for us. Now we have five attacking players of high quality – Mata, Rashford, Lukaku, Martial, Alexis – and it’s fantastic for me and for the team. If the players one day are on the bench and don't like it, I'm happy with that.

‘In big clubs you have big players, you have competition, you have responsibilities, you have to perform always, you have to try to go to every competition in a serious way.

‘You cannot do that with 11 players, it’s impossible. So the players in big clubs know the squad is 20 something where everybody wants to play. 

‘What we cannot do is play 12 at the same time, start with 12 in a certain match, but there is space and need for everybody.

‘I think is absolutely fundamental and we want to improve all the time, do better and better and better. We want to achieve big things and will not stop until we do that.

‘The evolution of the players is important, I'm really happy and have to say with some pride that the evolution of (Jesse) Lingard, (Anthony) Martial, Scott McTominay, these kind of young guys.

Jose Mourinho was speaking to reporters ahead of the FA Cup fourth-round clash with Yeovil

‘But you also need a combination with (Nemanja) Matic, Alexis, people with more experience, with more know-how, that was before in positions where we want to be fighting for titles.’ 

Mourinho has no doubt that Sanchez will fit in quickly at United after signing a player he has come up against before in England, Spain and Italy.

He said: ‘Because he's in England for quite a long time, I think everybody knows the player he is. I think everybody knows what he did at Arsenal.

‘I try not to speak what he did before in Spain and Italy, but in the Premier League he has shown the quality he has. We got one of the best attacking players in the world and he's very important for us because we want the best possible players.

‘He can play everywhere in the attacking positions. I know him for many years; in Italy at Udinese, in Spain when he was at Barcelona, and in England when he was at Arsenal. Our careers are almost made in the same countries simultaneously so. I know him very well.

Sanchez was confirmed as a Manchester United player on Monday after leaving Arsenal

‘I saw him play on the right, on the left, as a striker and behind the striker. These are Alexis’s positions. I saw him play different tactical positions, different philosophies.

‘I saw him successful in every country with every manager and every position, so he's a player that becomes more than a player because of that multi-functionality. He can play in four different positions.’

Turning to Friday night’s game fourth round tie against Yeovil, Mourinho promised to put out a strong team even though he will rest certain players.

‘We want to win,’ he added. ‘We know what the cups are. Manchester United played I think a couple of years ago at Yeovil and they know the difficulties they felt.

‘So we have to go with a very strong team. We are going to rest a couple of players. We have also a couple with little problems and we want to try to resolve to have them without problems for the next matches coming in February, in the Premier League and Champions League. But apart from that we go with a very strong team.’ 

WARM WELCOME FOR SANCHEZ

All eyes will be on Yeovil Town's Huish Park home this Friday — and not just because Manchester United are in town.

Fans around the world will no doubt be watching the FA Cup fourth-round clash with interest, given Alexis Sanchez could make his United debut. 

Ahead of the encounter, they teased the former Arsenal star about the hospitality he can expect should he make his debut at Huish Park.

Posting a tongue-in-cheek message on Twitter, Yeovil showed off the away dressing room Sanchez and Co will be using. 

They wrote: 'You said you've joined "the biggest club in the world". So it's only right that you start your United career in the biggest away dressing room in League Two.'

 

 By Matt Maltby

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