Alexis Sanchez makes a good start to his Manchester United career but we will learn more in the days to come

We were never going to learn much from 72 minutes against fourth-tier strugglers, but Wednesday night might be different

Alexis Sanchez impressed on his debut for Manchester United at Yeovil (Getty)

At half time, there was some concern in the Match of the Day studio that Alexis Sanchez was sticking too rigidly to his position out on the left wing.

Cue a reel of highlights showing the very opposite, with the thick-thighed Chilean cutting inside to the middle of the pitch and tirelessly attempting over and over again to make things happen on his Manchester United debut.

It was a sight that Arsenal supporters will have been familiar with.

The left flank is generally thought of as Sanchez’s main position – it is where Arsene Wenger deployed him most – but it is certainly not his favourite. This is a player who craves to be at the centre of things, one who is not afraid to be selfish and who does not always adhere to strict tactical instruction. He would be quite happy to, as Harry Redknapp once told Roman Pavlyuchenko, “just f***ing run around a bit”.

The thing is though, he is good enough to be trusted to do just that, and this was one aspect of Sanchez’s game that Wenger never quite grasped. During his time at the Emirates, the Chilean generally impressed when he was trusted with a touch more creative freedom or played centrally as a focal point, but Wenger’s trust was only ever short-term. Soon enough, he would be shunted wide again and burdened with responsibility.

Will Mourinho be willing to unshackle Sanchez? If you think this comfortable 4-0 FA Cup victory over Yeovil Town is anything to go by, you are mistaken. Definitive answers about a player earning a basic salary of £350,000-a-week were never going to come against the fourth-worst team in the fourth tier.

Yet the momentum and purpose that Sanchez brought to a United attack that has sometimes looked one-dimensional, even against weaker opposition, was at least a positive start. He had a hand in both the United goals scored during his 72 minutes on the pitch, playing the key passes for both Marcus Rashford’s opener and Ander Herrera’s finish.

Mourinho has few true game-changing players to call upon in his squad. Paul Pogba is one. Anthony Martial is another but not entirely trusted. Jesse Lingard’s development is very much welcome but his form is perhaps unsustainable. Sanchez, though, is a signing who in the space of a few seconds out on the pitch can take this team up a gear.

If, that is, he is allowed to and we may only know whether Mourinho fully trusts Sanchez when United play a fellow ‘top six’ side, particularly away from home.

Whether he plays on the left, the right or in the centre, will United’s new signing be given the license to be the player he can be against elite opposition or, like Martial at Anfield earlier this season, will he barely be allowed to advance out of his own half?

How will he be used when United play a team that, when at their best and in front of their own fans, are not just capable of beating Mourinho and his side but embarrassing them? How will he be used against a team like, say, Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley?

This performance at Huish Park was a good start to Sanchez-era United but nothing more than that. We will learn much more on Wednesday night.