10 Things You Don’t Know About Alexis Sánchez

Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez born 19 December 1988), known as Alexis Sánchez or simply Alexis, is a Chilean footballer who plays for English club Arsenal and the Chilean national team as a forward. Below are 10 Things you don’t know about the Arsenal player!

1. In 2011, he was signed by Barcelona for £25 million, becoming the most expensive transfer in Chilean football history.

2. Sánchez signed for Arsenal in July 2014 for a fee reported to be around £35 million, making him the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history after Mesut Özil

3. Sánchez has been a full international for Chile since 2006, and has earned 91 caps, making him the team’s second-most capped player of all time after goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

4. With 31 goals, he is their joint-third top scorer of all time. He played in two FIFA World Cups (2010 and 2014) as well as the 2011 and 2015 Copa América tournaments, winning the latter.

5. Sánchez made his international debut for the Chile national team against New Zealand on 27 April 2006.

6. On 26 September 2015, Sánchez ended a run of ten Premier League matches without a goal by scoring his first hat-trick for Arsenal in a 5–2 win at Leicester City. This made him the first player to score hat-tricks in each of the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga

7. Wenger was full of praise for Sánchez, with the Arsenal manager saying: “He had a good game, not only on the technical side but on the fighting side. He was mobile, dangerous and has shown as well he has great fighting spirit, qualities that will be very important in the Premier League.”

8. On 19 October 2008, Sánchez scored his first league goal against Lecce. After this first goal, Sánchez got into a minor slump, in which he took much criticism. The criticism ended after scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute against Bologna in a 1–0 win, being named the man of match

9. After an impressive FIFA U-20 World Cup of Sánchez (where Chile achieved the third place with José Sulantay as coach), his loan with Colo-Colo expired and on 15 August 2007 was reported that Argentina’s River Plate and Udinese reached a season long deal agreement for Alexis in a US$700.000 fee.

10. After an impressive season with Cobreloa, Sánchez caught the attention of Udinese who signed him for a £1.7 million fee, on 21 April 2006.