The weekly wages being paid to the likes of Sánchez and Fred will make it difficult to offload them this summer. See below for details

In the closing stages at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening, as the home supporters streamed towards the exits and left their noisy neighbours to savour another sweet victory, the eyes were drawn to the man in that famous Manchester United No 7 shirt. Over the course of an eight-minute cameo, he barely stopped moving, making runs, trying to close down opponents. But he touched the ball once.

Poor Alexis Sánchez. This is a player whom Manchester City tried to buy in the summer of 2017 and the following January, only for the club’s hierarchy to conclude that his and his agent’s financial demands were unjustifiable. Pep Guardiola agreed, sensing that paying even such a talented player £390,000 a week, plus an annual £1.1 million signing-on