It was exactly eight months on Saturday since Manchester United announced the arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal with a theatricality that tends to accompany their new unveilings these days.

The Chile striker was filmed playing “Glory, Glory Man United” on the piano, with Ed Woodward, the club’s executive vice-chairman, gleefully divulging to investors a fortnight later that the Twitter video and assorted fanfare generated 75 per cent more social media interactions than Neymar’s world record £198 million move to Paris St-Germain.

Presumably, United felt a piano was the appropriate accompaniment for a player who would soon have the team’s attack dancing to his tune but the only sound emanating from Old Trafford at the weekend, after a 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, were groans of frustration as Sanchez hit yet another bum note.

Off the field, he may be a record breaker but, on it, shirt sales count for nothing and, as supporters filed out of the ground debating where Sanchez ranks in that rather long list of transfer disappointments in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, it seemed fair to wonder if the forward’s troubles have developed into something more serious than simply a sustained slump.