Arsenal’s summer spending spree kicked off in sensational style last Thursday with the acquisition of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona. The 25-year-old arrives at the Emirates on a long-term contract in a deal which has reportedly set the north London club back a cool £31.7m:
After the deal was finally concluded, Arsene Wenger couldn’t hide his delight at snapping up one of the best talents around. Discussing the move with the club’s official website, the Gunners boss went on to say:
“Alexis will add power, creativity and much quality to our squad and we are all looking forward to him joining up with us in a few weeks. He has consistently produced top-quality performances at the highest level for a number of seasons now and we are all excited to see him integrate into the Arsenal squad. I’m sure all Arsenal supporters will join me in welcoming Alexis to our club.”
The Chilean was also quick to reciprocate. A long-term target of the club, Sanchez admitted
his new manager’s tactical approach was key to his decision and also went on to reveal the pair have already discussed his likely role for the season ahead:
“I know this club has a manager that looks after his players and takes care of them as well. I was told that he is a manager you can learn a lot with. He wants to achieve great things in football and that helped me make the decision to sign for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger’s style of play is the sort of style the Chilean national team has, so therefore I am used to it. Arsenal plays very well, which fits my style. That is why I moved here. The manager has mentioned some certain positions but I am not worried about it right now. The manager and I will talk about my role as soon as I start training. Arsenal is a club that cares about its players and I can learn a lot here.”
The History
A product of the Cobreloa youth system in his native Chile, Sanchez proceeded to score 12 times in 47 appearances before being signed by Serie A side Udinese in June 2006. The Italian outfit then loaned out the wide man over each of the next two seasons – first, Sanchez’ five goals in 32 appearances helped Colo-Colo win the Chilean top-flight before four strikes and a trio of assists played a part in Argentine side River Plate’s title-winning campaign.
Sanchez then returned to his parent club in time for the 2008-09 season but took his time to settle in the Italian top-flight. Over his first couple of years with Udinese, he served up eight goals and six assists from 64 league appearances before finding his form in 2011/12, racking up 12 goals and 10 assists over 31 Serie A matches.
Snapped up by Barcelona in July 2011, Sanchez wasted little time in acclimatising to La Liga. In his first season in the Spanish top-flight, he delivered 12 goals and six assists in 25 matches and whilst his second year was a little less prolific (eight goals and nine assists in 29 games), the Chilean returned an eye-catching 19 goals and 12 assists in 2013/14 before making his way to the Emirates.
On the international stage, the 25-year-old has turned out 71 times for Chile and found the net on 24 occasions, with two of those strikes arriving at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.
The Prospects
There’s an understandable wave of excitement surrounding Sanchez’ arrival amongst Arsenal fans and Fantasy managers alike. As he looks to improve upon last term’s fourth place finish in a season that harvested just 68 goals – the lowest of the top four and 34 less than champions Man City – Wenger has snapped up a true world-class talent at the height of his considerable powers.
One look at the stats highlights the main culprits. With Theo Walcott sidelined for the vast majority of the campaign, only two Arsenal players managed double-figure goal hauls – Olivier Giroud, with 16, and Aaron Ramsey with 10. Santi Cazorla netted just four times from 31 appearances, whilst Mesut Ozil chipped in with five goals in 26 league matches in an erratic debut campaign following a summer move from Real Madrid.
Giroud may have ended up as top scorer but, despite improving his goal conversion rate from 10.3% to 14.3% over his two years at the club, the Frenchman was much-maligned in the season gone by. When compared with Sanchez’ stats, however, it’s easy to see just why Wenger has snapped up the Chilean – as the official Opta stats confirm, his conversion rates over his three years at Barcelona were 30.8% in 2011-12, 25.8% in 2012-13 and 31.2% over 2013-14. To put that into perspective, only four players with 10+ goals converted above 20% of their chances in the Premier League last time round – Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard.
To an extent, Wenger’s intentions for Sanchez will determine the level of our initial interest. If it transpires that the Chilean has been lined up as Giroud’s replacement, his popularity will surely soar – particularly in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, where this morning’s release of the Player Price List confirmed the 25-year-old has been classified as a midfielder for the campaign ahead. Available for 10.5, he’s dearer on the budget than Ramsey and the currently-sidelined Walcott at 9.0 apiece, giving us a real dilemma when building our five-man midfields; there’s no doubt that, when fit, the latter two also have significant goal potential.
Coming in at 9.5 in the Sky Sports game and listed as a forward, Sanchez is one of the most expensive options around after those La Liga exploits. Again, though, if Wenger moves him up front, that outlay could easily pay off and, in turn, may boost the likes of Ozil’s points potential – with someone more prolific to stick away his key passes, the German could improve his creative returns with Sanchez leading the line.
According to the club’s website, Sanchez is expected to make his debut in the Emirates Cup on August 2 and there’s hope that Wenger’s intentions are apparent in advance of the start of the season. Either way, though, many will be swayed by a true talent who could, potentially, rival Gareth Bale’s prolific 2012/13 campaign if he acclimatises quickly.
