Alexis Sánchez is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for English club Arsenal and the Chile national team.
Let’s some fun facts about him!
1. Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez born 19 December 1988 in Tocopilla.
2. Sánchez was product of Cobreloa prolific youth ranks where he was teammate of current Chile national team players such as Charles Aránguiz and Eduardo Vargas.
3. In February 2005, Sánchez was promoted to the senior first team by manager Nelson Acosta.
4. Sánchez’s made his debut against Deportes Temuco in February and scored his first professional goal in a 2–1 victory over Deportes Concepción on 18 March, allowed him play his first Copa Libertadores game against Once Caldas aged 16, which made him one of the youngest players on debut for the tournament.
5. After an impressive season with Cobreloa, Sánchez caught the attention of Italian Serie A club Udinese, which signed him for a £1.7 million fee, on 21 April 2006.
6. Udinese, however, began a maturation project with Sánchez and immediately loaned him to Chilean giants Colo-Colo in a season-long deal.
7. After his debut season of first-team football with Cobreloa, Sánchez was signed by Italy’s Udinese in 2006.
8. Following successful loans at Colo-Colo and River Plate, he began playing in Serie A.
9. In 2011, he was signed by Barcelona for £25 million, becoming the most expensive transfer in Chilean football history.
10. Sánchez signed for Arsenal in July 2014 for a fee reported to be £31.7 million, making him the third-most expensive signing in the club’s history after Mesut Özil and Granit Xhaka.
11. Sánchez, also nicknamed El Niño Maravilla and “Ardilla”, has been a full international for Chile since 2006, and has earned 112 caps, making him the team’s joint most capped player of all-time, alongside goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
12. With 38 goals, he is La Roja’s highest top scorer of all-time. He also played in two FIFA World Cups (2010 and 2014) as well as three Copa América tournaments, winning two of the latter.
13. Sanchez had a statue erected in his honour within his native town of Tocopilla in March 2017.
14, In October 2015, Sanchez was named as a brand ambassador for Huawei.
15. He appeared in an advert to the tune of Blondie’s “One Way or Another” for Huawei which made its debut in November 2016.
16. In February 2017, Sánchez signed a sponsorship deal with Pepsi.
Got anything to add?