Alexis Sánchez’s star is shining, but not only in his native Chile. The Italian and Spanish media are now jumping on the bandwagon.
On Saturday Sánchez scored four goals in his team 7-0 win over Palermo in Italy’s Serie A (the top soccer league in Italy). His performance created a storm and rumors as to which team will stump up the alleged US$40 million asking price for the striker. Sánchez currently plays for Udinese, a mid-table, unfashionable team based in the northern town Udine.
Soccer teams in Europe are only allowed to buy players during the off-season, and then again in the month of January. It was thought he would move in the last transfer window, but he ultimately stayed with his current team after his suitors were unwilling to pay such a high fee.
That looks highly unlikely to happen this summer. Reports suggest “The Boy Wonder” is being tracked by a host of big teams, including Inter and Juventus (in Italy), Barcelona (Spain), and Chelsea and Manchester United (England).
Newspapers in Italy seem convinced a bidding war will take place for Sánchez’s services, with suggestions the fee could go as high as US$55 million. La Gazzetta dello Sport described his performance on Saturday as “magic at full volume.” One Catalan daily sports paper dedicated its whole front page to the player weighing up the possibility of Barcelona beating the competition to the player’s signature under a headline proclaiming him “The Next Big Thing”.
Ivan Zamorano, one of Chile’s most famous former players, said Sánchez was on course to eclipse his exploits and those of Marcelo Salas (Chile’s top scorer in international matches)
“I think he is not only on pace to match what we did, but will overcome me and Marcelo. He is still young and has a huge global reach. I think he will stay with Udinese for six months. Nothing more,” Zamorano said.
Jorge Vargas, another former player, said the challenge facing Sánchez is clear. “To be compared to the “Za-Sa” duo (Zamorano and Salas), he will need to win titles and to break the record of goals scored for Chile.”
That record currently stands at 37 goals, which took Salas 70 matches to reach. So far Sánchez has scored 12 in 33 matches for Chile.
“He has the mentality of being the best in the world. I remember I had to face him in recent South American qualifiers; he is very difficult to mark because he moves a lot and is always running,” said his teammate at Udinese, Colombian Pablo Armero.
Udinese stands to profit massively from any sale of their prized asset, having bought the player for US$1.5 million. Udinese’s sporting director Fabrizio Larini said, "We don't set the figure, the market does. The value of the player is liable to vary. Inter tried (to buy Sánchez) in January just as the other teams did.”
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