LONDON – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is pleased to have signed an attacking player of the calibre of Alexis Sanchez but said the club will continue to give youngsters their fair share of opportunities.
Sanchez completed his move to Old Trafford from Arsenal on Monday in a swap deal that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan heading the other way.
Mourinho said it was “a great deal for everybody” and confirmed the 29-year-old Chile international will be in the squad for United's FA Cup fourth round tie against fourth tier Yeovil Town on Friday.
“In the Premier League he (Sanchez) has shown already the quality he has, we got one of the best attacking players in the world,” Mourinho told a news conference on Thursday.
“I think he's very important for us because we want to have the best possible players.”
United's young trio of attackers, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, have combined to add 20 goals in the league this season as they remain second in the standings, 12 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City.
Mourinho said their contribution has not gone unnoticed, adding that the right mix of youth and experience was crucial for his team to achieve their targets on domestic and European fronts this season.
“I'm very happy and have to say with pride the evolution of Lingard, Martial, Scott McTominay and these kind of young guys,” he added.
“At the same time you need a combination with players like (Nemanja) Matic, Alexis - people that have experience in where we want to be - fighting for titles.
“Now we have five attacking players of quality, (Juan) Mata, Rashford, (Romelu) Lukaku, Martial, Alexis and it's fantastic for me and for the team, if the players one day are on the bench and they don't like it, I'm happy with that.”
Following their FA Cup tie at Yeovil's Huish Park, United travel to Tottenham Hotspur in the league on Wednesday.