Does this £26m man have the ability to make it at Old Trafford?

Written by Daniel Blazer for FootballFancast.com: When Manchester City are linked with yet another player I have never heard of for £26 million then it has to surely be another overpriced move for a player who is merely in good form. But then Manchester United entered the race for winger Alexis Sanchez, and I began to take note of this Chilean star who has been turning even Alex Ferguson’s head.

I’ve always wanted a cool nickname but the best my friends could come up with was ‘Dan’, hardly on the same level as Niño Maravilla, so called due to his stylish play, a nickname he earned when breaking the Copa Libertadores record for the youngest player to debut in the South American Club Championship, at the age of just 16. Obviously a cool nickname and an age-related record doesn’t earn you a $3 million move to Udinese, so I’m assuming it was the six goals in twelve games in the Chilean league in only his second season.

Sanchez was signed by the Italian outfit for the future, and was instantly loaned out to Chilean side Colo-Colo and then to Argentinian team River Plate; after successful season-long loans with both clubs, Sanchez finally made his break at Udinese in 2008 and after a few promising performances over the seasons, it was this year that the versatile attacker put himself on the footballing map. A regular fixture in the exciting Chilean side in the 2010 World Cup, Sanchez used the world’s biggest stage to showcase his talents and carried this on into the current Serie A campaign, forming a formidable partnership with Antonio Di Natalie, scoring 35 goals between them, just five shy of the Del Piero and Trezeguet record in the 2007-08 season, and with a few games still to play.

So that’s the story of this young Chilean’s rise to stardom, but what would he offer either of Manchester’s Premier League clubs? Would he slot in straight away or would he be another Stephane Guivarc’h? Manchester City have flair players in abundance and leaving out one of David Silva, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko wouldn’t be easy, although with uncertainty surrounding Tevez’ future, perhaps accommodating the Chilean wouldn’t be so hard. With his ability to work as an out-and-out forward or an attacking winger, this would give Manchester City a lot of fluidity up front and I get the feeling Silva and Sanchez could be a match made in heaven.

So what would happen instead if the winger decides to ply his trade at Old Trafford? It is hard to see him ousting either Wayne Rooney or new fan favourite Javier Hernandez, but you could see him perhaps playing as a winger ahead of Antonio Valencia; together with Nani on the wings, they would surely be a full back’s ultimate nightmare. Sanchez’ proposed arrival to the Motherland, whoever it may be with, is no doubt be an exciting proposition for the Premier League.

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