Should Manchester United target this Premier League winger as an alternative to Sancho?

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Bengaluru, July 21: It is pretty much a public knowledge that Manchester United's primary target for the summer remains to be Borussia Dortmund and England winger Jadon Sancho. However, it seems that the German giants are holding out for a massive price tag for their priced asset and even for a club of Manchester United's stature, the asking price has prompted second thoughts for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

With a right-winger very much of a priority for the Red Devils, former Manchester United skipper turned TV pundit Gary Neville has urged to pursue a move for Watford star Ismaïla Sarr as a cheaper alternative for Sancho.

Sancho is indeed a special player, a generational talent but going all out for him for a price tag of more than 100 million euros might prove to be a risky move for the Red Devils considering the fact that they need strengthening in other areas of the squad as well. Therefore, Neville's suggestion makes sense but has Sarr done enough to seal a big move to Old Trafford in just a year following his mega move to the Premier League with Watford? We will try to analyse that in this article.

Sarr has been Watford's best player when played to his strengths

Sarr sealed his club-record £30 million move to Watford last summer from Ligue 1 side Rennes and found the Premier League incredibly hard in the beginning. Watford have been involved in the relegation scrap from the very start of the season and that is not an ideal situation for a new young attacker coming from a different league.

However, slowly but surely the Senegalese international has made his mark in the Premier League and has been one of the reasons why Watford have managed to come back from their early-season scare. Sarr's debut season in the Premier League has been far from outstanding but he has shown glimpses of his quality on occasions and completely stole the show in the 3-0 win against champions Liverpool.

In his development phase

Even though Sarr is already 22 years of age, he is far from a finished product and is much behind most of the promising young players in Europe right now. Sancho is two years younger than the Watford attacker and looks more polished.

What Manchester United need right now is someone who can make an immediate impact, not a player who will take probably two more years before delivering week in week out. If we look at the young players Solskjaer has at his disposal right now, we can easily see that there is no lack of talent. For example, Mason Greenwood is only 18 years of age and has been much more impressive than Sarr this season albeit playing for a much stronger team.

Patience can reap fruits

Sarr has been strongly likened to his compatriot Sadio Mane who is one of the best wingers in the world right now but if we look at the time when Liverpool signed him, he was from world-class. In fact, almost none of the Liverpool players right now was world-class when the Reds signed them.

Jurgen Klopp deserves the plaudits for what he has achieved with this crop of players making every single look like a bargain now. In Sarr, Manchester united could unearth their own gem and that too on a reasonable fee. Watford should be willing to cash in on their star winger for a fee of around £40m and this could be deemed as a bargain if the youngster lives up to his potential at Old Trafford.