Probably if we leave Messi out, this year has been dominated by players from the American Continent but not from traditional power houses like Brazil and Argentina but the Chileans, the Mexicans, the Uruguayans. One player who particularly has impressed everyone and has hogged the transfer news more than anyone else in the European continent is Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sanchez. No I have written it correct; this name is according to Spanish customs so you can stop smiling that u found a mistake. Certainly this player got to have something because shifting Fabregas ßàBarcelona and the recent cross rival Nasri-United story from page1 is not easy I guess.
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The word El Niño, the South Americans use it very very rarely, and the last time it was used it was to my personal favorite Fernando Torres (no I am not a Liverpool or Chelsea supporter, I am a fan of talent) and now this guy is called El Niño Maravilla meaning boy wonder. And for a fact he is. Born on December the 19th 1988, Sanchez was set to become part of the golden generation of Chilean footballers that had players like Mark Gonzalez. At the age of 16 he made his professional debut for Chile club Copa Libertadores. And at Copa Libertadores he sent a sign of things to come when he became the youngest scorer. But greatness was not to come from there only, he had to suffer many things before coming to this stage where he is now. Despite being signed up by his present club, Udinese for €3 million in 2006 he was not bound to go to Italy but to loan spells at South American clubs to grow physically and mentally. He initially joined Chile side Colo-Colo on a yearlong loan deal and then a loan spell at River Plate.
But the most horrendous time of his career came between the switch of the two clubs for him, and at the age of 17 he had a toe injury which had threaten to end his career.
Leaving his native South America he reached his present club Udinese where he scored 5 goals in his debut season in 2008 whilst getting some criticism of his attitude. But he showed a little glimpse of what he is today by playing a key role in eliminating AC Milan and his man of the match performance against Roma in the second leg. Giampolo Pozo, the Udinese club president said one year later in 2010 after his right winger’s return to the club after a decent World Cup performance that the he has to fulfill his potential at Udinese. Sometimes you have a world stage to perform and due to some reason or the other you don’t make that a name for yourself. But if you got potential, no body cannot stop you. And so was the previous season for Alexis Sanchez. The right winger who can also play as a striker; Very fast, and extremely skillful dribbler. Having played on the right wing for most of his career, this season saw him operating from a more central position behind Antonio Di Natale.
With this move, the player has shown a more intelligent side to his game and has improved his end product greatly leading to highly improved consistency from the youngster. He performs best when given the freedom to roam behind a striker or two. Although starting from a central position, he combines with wide players effectively and can help a side’s width with his movement. Another positive with Sánchez is his work rate which is very impressive for one so talented. Alexis has also drawn comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo. Udinese who have qualified for the UEFA Champions League the hard way had the Sanchez and Antonio Di Natale scoring partnership which outshone the Diego Maradona-Careca duo. Udinese who qualified for the World’s biggest club competition after beating beating Lazio, Juventus and Palermo for 7-0 in which he hit 4 goals.
Remember the above lines quoting Udinese club president saying that Sanchez has still to fulfill his potential at the Italian club; it was to an offer by Turkish club Galatasary who had bid €20 million for him at the end of the 2010 World Cup. But as mentioned at Para 1 of this article and certainly the sporting digest around the globe, his transfer is the buzz of the hour. With Barcelona scout trailing him since his Palermo demolition day and even Massimo Moratti, the president of the Inter Milan saying the club has a 60 % chance of getting the player (I don’t know how he calculated that number, actually no one knows) the two Manchester Clubs also trailing him with Manchester City having financial clout over Manchester United. With favorites to sign the player changing every hour and with every tweet, it will be interesting to see where he goes. For the financial thing he can select Manchester City and for the footballing reasons well I think Manchester United are a better option than F.C.Barcelona. Agreeing to the fact that the Catalan Club are playing the best football on the planet, it can be questioned that how Alexis develops under the shadow of Lionel Messi. And there is Manchester United who have surely won their record 19th title but provides him the best place to grow as a footballer. After all the Theatre of Dreams was the place where Cristiano was carved into what he is now. And certainly we have to see that surely he is a rising star and his potential is being estimated and €35 million is a big price for estimation. Remember he is still being compared to Ronaldo, Messi. But I certainly hope that we have got a new global footballing superstar and he is indeed one of the top 10 players in the world right now on the basis of pure form.
