Former Arsenal forward Paul Merson has suggested that Alexis Sanchez still has a part to play at Manchester United once his Inter Milan loan deal expires.

The Chile international has spent 2018-19 on loan at San Siro after struggling for confidence in his season-and-a-half with United.

Sanchez has scored just one goal for Inter and the Italian club are not expected to take up the option to sign him permanently when the transfer window opens.

Merson believes that a return to Old Trafford for the 31-year-old makes sense, however, as he will be returning to a different side to the one he left last year.

"With what's currently going on, I can't see a team going out and spending £100m on a player anymore," he told Sky Sports News. "Teams are going to have to stick with what they've got so Manchester United keeping hold of Alexis Sanchez and bringing him back into the fold would come as no surprise.

"The other options would be to go and find a replacement and they would have to spend £60m or £70m to do it. I just don't think clubs are going to do that anymore, and actually, I don't think people care.

"I can understand Sanchez coming back to play a part at Old Trafford because, on his day, he is a great player. After this, people are going to appreciate things a lot more now - and that includes some of the footballers who get bundles of money and think they can just stroll through. Sanchez was one of those players, but I think he will probably now think this life goes very quickly, especially a football career.

"Players might start to appreciate that more and he could come back, work hard and be a success because you can't go from being that good at Arsenal to be that bad at Manchester United, you just can't. It's definitely a better United than the one he left too. They were flying before the suspension of the league."

A recent report suggested that Sanchez is reluctant to take a pay cut in order to secure a move away from United.