Michael Owen has now made a major comparison between a Manchester United player who has “so much skill and pace” and former Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez.
Alexis Sanchez was in the prime of his life during his spell with the Gunners before the Red Devils signed him from Arsenal in 2018 in a straight swap deal.
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan was shipped out to Arsenal and former Gunners star Sanchez made his way to Old Trafford and inherited the Manchester United No 7 shirt.
However, the 36-year-old Chilean striker failed to live up to the high expectations that were placed on his shoulders and Sanchez endured a disastrous spell at United.
Sanchez would be loaned out to Inter Milan in 2019 before the United flop completed a permanent transfer to the Serie A club in 2020.
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty ImagesMichael Owen makes a powerful point about Alexis Sanchez and on-loan Man Utd forward Marcus Rashford
Alexis Sanchez only made 45 appearances for Manchester United during his spell at Old Trafford and he netted five times and registered nine assists for the Red Devils.
The former Barcelona star enjoyed a much more prolific spell at the Gunners, with Sanchez scoring 80 times and picking up 44 assists in 166 matches for Arsenal.
Speaking on the Mennie Talks Podcast, Michael Owen insisted that Sanchez’s massive drop-off at United was comparable to Marcus Rashford in certain ways.
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The former United and Liverpool striker said: “Absolutely. Sanchez going from Arsenal to Man United, Alexis Sanchez, remember?
“I mean, he was Player of the Year twice. He was the best player in the Premier League.
“He went to Manchester; he looked like he’d never kicked a ball before. It was incredible, the drop-off, and sometimes, and I’m not sure why any of those happened.”
Owen added: “There was no real reason to see a drop off like it. And Rashford was very similar.
“He had such a high… I can’t remember his numbers when he had that one season where he scored 30-odd goals, but he was incredible.”
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Marcus Rashford signed for Barcelona in the summer after returning to Old Trafford from his Aston Villa loan, with the United talent impressing at the Spanish club.
The 28-year-old England international netted six times and registered nine assists in 16 appearances for Barcelona across all competitions in the 2025-26 campaign.
Owen waxed lyrical about former Aston Villa forward Rashford and is still puzzled by the on-loan United forward’s form taking a major hit during his time at Old Trafford.
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“And he is incredible,” he continued.
“He’s got so much skill and pace and everything about him. But to have that drop off, everybody was scratching their heads as to why.
“And it’s got to be something to do with the person falling out of love with where they’re at or something like that. It could be anything.
“It could be anything, but from the outside, they’re three examples off the top of my head that I thought, ‘Wow, they’re huge drop-offs and almost drop-offs that you can’t explain.’”
Rashford completed his move to the Camp Nou back in July and the Barcelona summer signing’s transfer included an optional permanent buyout clause of £30.3m.