Jose Mourinho praised “amazing addition” Alexis Sanchez after his man-of-the-match display on his Man Utd debut at Yeovil.
Sanchez, who signed from Arsenal earlier this week, was heavily involved at Huish Park as United ran out 4-0 winners to reach the FA Cup fifth round.
The Chilean started off with a mixed performance, but was a constant threat thereafter, registering an assist for Ander Herrera’s goal, and Mourinho was full of praise for his new signing.
Mourinho said: “I am very happy. No surprises for anyone, three-and-a-half years in the Premier League playing every weekend everyone knows what type of player Alexis is. He’s the type of player you buy and don’t put a question mark in front of, you don’t think about adaptation or anything like that in relation to English football.
“He’s a fantastic player, he showed that for three years, and for the past three days training for us. An amazing addition for us.”
Having been left out of recent games for Arsenal, Mourinho felt it was imperative to get Sanchez involved as soon as possible after three impressive days of training at Carrington.
Mourinho said: “I think he needed to play, we spoke and he needed to play. He didn’t play for Arsenal in the last two or three matches, his training was not good, when you have half of your body in the Emirates [Arsenal stadium] and half of your body in Manchester.
“He needed to train well like he did, and he needed to play. I was not sure about 90 minutes, I wanted to go for the 60, 70, 75, and it was good, because people understand his game better, and he can start to understand the way his fellow players play too.”
Yeovil asked questions of United in the first half, but after Marcus Rashford was gifted an opener just before the break, Mourinho said the game opened up for his side.
“We knew it was going to be difficult until we scored the first goal,” he said. “First half was difficult, they were well organised, and they knew what they were doing on the pitch.
“The team was professional, and then in the second half we found the spaces we didn’t find in the first half, and when the second goal came it was game over.”
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