Alexis Sanchez United player

[Luis DC]

For our Chile residents here, will he go down as the greatest Chilean player in your history? Or is it Salas, Zamarano or Vidal or perhaps someone i have missed out?

Elias Figueroa is our greatest player ever, a centre back that played in Brasil and Uruguay and was elected best defender of the continent twice. The topic here is that the current generation has far more achievements because we have 4 top players and our other great players had to do most of their performance for the national team alone. One big example is our keepers, Roberto Rojas (the bastard who simulated an attack at Maracana) was a much better keeper than Bravo in reflexes, elasticity, bigger presence in the field, he demoralized the rivals, nevertheless Claudio is much more successful because is a very good keeper, despite his awful last season at club levels.
If you ask fans Salas is rated far above Zamorano. Chile has a debate between journos about who is the best of the current players and some of them thinks that Vidal over Alexis (due to his consistency at top level mostly) but the opinions are very split. Alexis is more popular among fans.
Salas is a way better than Sanchez a pure forward, as n° 9, technically I would rate him a bit over Alexis, but he didn't have Alexis drive and energy and creativity.
The ranking could be: Figueroa with Salas, Alexis and Vidal very close together.

 

[Trizy]

@matador can you give some insight to who the biggest support clubs are (in order) in your beautiful country?

 

[matador]

Thanks for the history lesson.

Thinking about Alexis' achievements from a historical point of view, its interesting that he hasn't been more widely recognised outside of Chile. I am sure most would agree Alexis is one of the best players in the Premier League, which makes him one of the best players in the world, but arguably he should be given more respect.

For example, Luis Suarez is given a lot of respect, because he has won stuff with Barcelona and because he led Uruguay to the Copa America in 2011. However, Alexis also won stuff with Barcelona and led Chile to the Copa America in 2015 (and the Centenario in 2016). However, people's perception of Suarez and Alexis seems very different. I think its fair to say Alexis gets less credit. Perhaps its because of the Champions League, which Alexis is yet to win as you say?

I think Alexis is even better than many people realise, I just have this feeling that he is going to do something very special at Manchester United.

I absolutely agree with you. Probably poor marketing skills, or as someone said were he Argentinian or Brazilian he would be worth so much more. We’ve always had poor marketing skills.

In the space of 30 minutes on this thread, @matador has gone from 4 to 7 likes. The other Chilean on this thread has 5 likes from 13 messages. Taking a lead from Woodward, our mods are fast-tracking Chile to United.

I for one would like to welcome our new Chilean overlords

Well, thanks a lot! Would love to see more Chileans here, but English isn’t one of our strings suits.

@matador can you give some insight to who the biggest support clubs are (in order) in your beautiful country?

Even though I’m not a fan of them, no one can hold a candle for Colo Colo. They’re the most popular club, and they’ve recently won their 32nd league, plus they’re the only Chilean team to ever win the Copa Libertadores (the equivalent to the Champions League). Second place in popularity and silverware is Universidad de Chile with 18 leagues and winner of the Copa Sudamericana in 2011 (the equivalent to the Europa League). Then there’s Universidad Católica with 12 leagues and fairly good performances in continental tournaments, but no silverware.

 

[Frank Grimes]

Took me a while to notice that the 'L' in Alexis is an inverted 7. Not like I watched the video 20 times or anything.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I know it's kind of a meme now to joke about his age but I only just realised he's almost exactly the same age as RVP when we signed him. Is this making anyone else a little anxious?

Fecking him and Rooney have made me reassess long-held opinions about how long you can expect players to be at their best. Maybe y'all can reassure me with a list of attacking footballers who didn't show any noticeable drop in their performance levels until they were well past the big three oh?

Robben...

Erm...

 

[BluesJr]

I know it's kind of a meme now to joke about his age but I only just realised he's almost exactly the same age as RVP when we signed him. Is this making anyone else a little anxious?

Why does it make you anxious? Look at Ronaldo, Ibra, etc.

 

[Traub]

I know it's kind of a meme now to joke about his age but I only just realised he's almost exactly the same age as RVP when we signed him. Is this making anyone else a little anxious?

A little, but I think RVP’s circumstances were quite different. I think he just lost motivation when SAF retired.

 

[IAmAWinner]

I know it's kind of a meme now to joke about his age but I only just realised he's almost exactly the same age as RVP when we signed him. Is this making anyone else a little anxious?

Fecking him and Rooney have made me reassess long-held opinions about how long you can expect players to be at their best. Maybe y'all can reassure me with a list of attacking footballers who didn't show any noticeable drop in their performance levels until they were well past the big three oh?

Robben...

Erm...

Nah. Alexis isn't injury prone like RVP was. And he won't work with Moyes and LVG who will suck every bit of creativity out of your soul.
Alexis will give us at least 3 world class season. Maybe more.

 

[fanutd]

I know it's kind of a meme now to joke about his age but I only just realised he's almost exactly the same age as RVP when we signed him. Is this making anyone else a little anxious?

Fecking him and Rooney have made me reassess long-held opinions about how long you can expect players to be at their best. Maybe y'all can reassure me with a list of attacking footballers who didn't show any noticeable drop in their performance levels until they were well past the big three oh?

Robben...

Erm...

I smell what you're cooking but he is in excellent shape and really takes care of his body.

Let's see some that have done well despite their age:

Valencia (Our Captain)
Ronnie (freak of nature)
Robben (when fit)
Ribery (still starts)
Scholes and Giggs.
Tevez (Did the job for Juve)
Zanetti
David Silva
Kompany


I will list more as I remember.

 

[bosnian_red]

I know it's kind of a meme now to joke about his age but I only just realised he's almost exactly the same age as RVP when we signed him. Is this making anyone else a little anxious?

Fecking him and Rooney have made me reassess long-held opinions about how long you can expect players to be at their best. Maybe y'all can reassure me with a list of attacking footballers who didn't show any noticeable drop in their performance levels until they were well past the big three oh?

Robben...

Erm...

RVP had a long injury history that meant there was a reasonable explanation to him slowing down early. Sanchez has a Ronaldo like obsession to stay at peak physical condition and look after himself. He's never had many injury problems and players like that tend to stay an extra few years at their peak. Look at Valencia, Ibra, Ronaldo, Giggs, etc..
Also as others have said with RvP, big part of his decline was because of Sir Alex retiring so he obviously lost that motivation a bit.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I smell what you're cooking but he is in excellent shape and really takes care of his body.

Let's see some that have done well despite their age:

Valencia (Our Captain)
Ronnie (freak of nature)
Robben (when fit)
Ribery (still starts)
Scholes and Giggs.
Tevez (Did the job for Juve)
Zanetti
David Silva
Kompany


I will list more as I remember.

Oooh. Got a good one. Didier Drogba. Best ever goals haul for Chelsea (37 goals) was in 2009/10. He was 31 at the beginning of that season.

 

[Paxi]

Oooh. Got a good one. Didier Drogba. Best ever goals haul for Chelsea was in 2009/10. He was 31 at the beginning of that season.

Di Natale was still one of the best attacking players in Europe in his early to mid thirties.

 

[fanutd]

Oooh. Got a good one. Didier Drogba. Best ever goals haul for Chelsea (37 goals) was in 2009/10. He was 31 at the beginning of that season.

Absolutely, and I am sure we can find many more examples. I still get nightmares of Drogba's Terminator+Robocop form back in 06 when we took our trophy back. He was scoring screamers left and right (Everton one comes to mind ).

 

[syrian_scholes]

I smell what you're cooking but he is in excellent shape and really takes care of his body.

Let's see some that have done well despite their age:

Valencia (Our Captain)
Ronnie (freak of nature)
Robben (when fit)
Ribery (still starts)
Scholes and Giggs.
Tevez (Did the job for Juve)
Zanetti
David Silva
Kompany


I will list more as I remember.

Zidane
Chiellini at 33 is still pretty good
Totti

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Absolutely, and I am sure we can find many more examples. I still get nightmares of his Terminator+Robocop form back in 06 when we took our trophy back. He was scoring screamers left and right (Everton one comes to mind ).

Don't want to talk about that. He was younger than Sanchez then

 

[kouroux]

Caftards have this weird fixation on age. It's really wrong when you read some posts

 

[fanutd]

Don't want to talk about that. He was younger than Sanchez then

I know, I know I just can't help but lose sleep whenever anyone mentions Drogba. He was kinda single-handedly ruining our pre-celebrations that season.

 

[Moonwalker]

I smell what you're cooking but he is in excellent shape and really takes care of his body.

Let's see some that have done well despite their age:

Valencia (Our Captain)
Ronnie (freak of nature)
Robben (when fit)
Ribery (still starts)
Scholes and Giggs.
Tevez (Did the job for Juve)
Zanetti
David Silva
Kompany


I will list more as I remember.

Yeah, it would be great if he took the path of Kompany, wouldn't it. Still killing it, aged 31*.

*effectively retired, five years ago.

 

[Paxi]

Anyway I fully expect Sanchez to score more than 80 goals at Man Utd to which he scored at Arsenal.

 

[fanutd]

Yeah, it would be great if he took the path of Kompany, wouldn't it. Still killing it, aged 31*.

*effectively retired, five years ago.

I was just providing an example of players who are still able to cut it regardless of age. Just added Kompany to show that even with injuries if an individual takes care of themselves then they are still able to play at the highest level. But, I get your point. I don't want the thread to digress too much.

Getting back on topic, I don't think there is too much to worry about with our new no. 7.

 

[Paxi]

Del Piero was still killing it in his 30's. The list is endless. It just depends on the injuries the player gets. If Sanchez is lucky he can play well into his 30's considering when you hear people talking about his hunger. His professionalism. His desire to play every game. I expect him here until his 34-35 and not as a washed out attacker but a focal part of our team.

 

[Moonwalker]

I was just providing an example of players who are still able to cut it regardless of age. Just added Kompany to show that even with injuries if an individual takes care of themselves then they are still able to play at the highest level. But, I get your point. I don't want the thread to digress too much.

Getting back on topic, I don't think there is too much to worry about with our new no. 7.

Don't mind my sarcasm, I just gasped at the pang of reading that name, in what is supposed to be all about optimism. The list is fine otherwise, if a bit short.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Caftards have this weird fixation on age. It's really wrong when you read some posts

Yeah, true. I'm coming at it from the point of view of spending years lecturing people that they were mad to write off Rooney at 28, 29 years old and he was definitely going to have an Indian summer at some point. Turns out the fat feck made a fool of me. Luckily, Sanchez won't be appearing in a "Footballers Without Abs" thread any time soon, so should be made of sterner stuff. If only I could shake my anxiety about the way that teetotal, completely shredded, RvP hit a wall after his first season at the club...

Mind you, like other said, there are other good reason for his form to fall of a cliff. I'll have to cling to that.

 

[Gusjaros]

I just hope, hope, hope that he will not play as a RW. He is best as a CF. If not CF then SS or a LW.

 

[Trizy]

I absolutely agree with you. Probably poor marketing skills, or as someone said were he Argentinian or Brazilian he would be worth so much more. We’ve always had poor marketing skills.



Well, thanks a lot! Would love to see more Chileans here, but English isn’t one of our strings suits.



Even though I’m not a fan of them, no one can hold a candle for Colo Colo. They’re the most popular club, and they’ve recently won their 32nd league, plus they’re the only Chilean team to ever win the Copa Libertadores (the equivalent to the Champions League). Second place in popularity and silverware is Universidad de Chile with 18 leagues and winner of the Copa Sudamericana in 2011 (the equivalent to the Europa League). Then there’s Universidad Católica with 12 leagues and fairly good performances in continental tournaments, but no silverware.

Apologies, I meant European teams.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Not got round to posting in this thread yet.

Is he any good?

 

[buchansleftleg]

Piers Morgan is taking the news very badly.

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If Piers is such an expert on grief .... can he explain what he did to Nigel Havers while he looked after his dying wife?

 

[Giggs86]

Piers Morgan is taking the news very badly.

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So, According to Piers, we are not the biggest club in Manchester, and we are a lesser club than Arsenal. What a fecking troll

 

[Ananke]

29 is peak I'd say. He looks in peak physical form. I'd actually say his age is a benefit to us, he's played for Barca (loved watching him there), he's done superb for Arsenal to the point where they've relied on him, proven he can hack it in the Premier League. We've got Martial (22), Lukaku (24), Rashford (20), Lingard (25), Pogba (24). All young players with lots of life left in their careers and either starting or still to hit their peak. It's not like we're in dire need of youthful players. At this moment we need players who can deliver week in week out. Personally I think age helps in that regard.

 

[Hughie77]

We will see if he hits the ground running, ready made player, this reminds me of the Larsson loan signing. He was awesome for the period he was at ot. What he will give is energy skill and experience. This is a great signing. But that's all we will have is about his wages, who gives a monkeys.. only the bitter blues

 

[Moiraine]

Come on guys, no pictures or videos today ?

 

[el3mel]

29 is peak I'd say. He looks in peak physical form. I'd actually say his age is a benefit to us, he's played for Barca (loved watching him there), he's done superb for Arsenal to the point where they've relied on him, proven he can hack it in the Premier League. We've got Martial (22), Lukaku (24), Rashford (20), Lingard (25), Pogba (24). All young players with lots of life left in their careers and either starting or still to hit their peak. It's not like we're in dire need of youthful players. At this moment we need players who can deliver week in week out. Personally I think age helps in that regard.

Agree.

We replaced a 29 years old player who's a flop and was benched for 2 months with a 29 years old world class who will go straight into our lineup and we didn't pay any money over it. We're the winners here no doubt about that.

 

[K2K]

I'm sure it's most likely gossip but Portuguese press has some stuff on how Pogba is not happy with Alexis getting a significantly higher wage than him, the previous top earner.

While the rumoured wage is not necessarily true, it seems very likely that he is on more than Paul is. And so, do you think it might affect squad harmony negatively ? I think Pogba is a much better player than Sanchez so it could be a bit hard to take for the French.

From last year's leaks which showed that Zlatan was out highest earner, Pogba was on only 165k. That would put him below even DDG.

I think the press simply want to run with the narrative of Pogba being another greedy player. Sadly some of own fans because of their own preconceived notions are so ever willing to indulge those papers.

I see the mail has an article where Sanchez's article is back to 350k.

 

[BusbyMalone]

Yeah, true. I'm coming at it from the point of view of spending years lecturing people that they were mad to write off Rooney at 28, 29 years old and he was definitely going to have an Indian summer at some point. Turns out the fat feck made a fool of me. Luckily, Sanchez won't be appearing in a "Footballers Without Abs" thread any time soon, so should be made of sterner stuff. If only I could shake my anxiety about the way that teetotal, completely shredded, RvP hit a wall after his first season at the club...

Mind you, like other said, there are other good reason for his form to fall of a cliff. I'll have to cling to that.

Yeah i don’t think age was the primary reason RVP dropped off considerably.

He, seemingly more than anyone, was hurt by Fergie leaving. Clearly had a mental impact on him going forward, not to mention the fact that Moysey came in and was utterly catastrophic.

And despite the fact that LVG was a fellow countryman and manager of his national team, they didn’t seem to get on too well from what i can gather. Rather quite sad how he just fell away at United really.

As for Rooney, i think it’s well known that he never really looked after himself in the same way you would expect a top athlete to. So i don’t think it’s about age, but more his lifestyle. Which could be attributed to age in as much that you can get away with that sort of carelessness when you’re younger, but there certainly were other mitigating circumstances for sure.

As for Sanchez, i have no such worry. He reminds me of Ronaldo in the sense that he’s a true athlete. Somebody who’s in peak physical condition. I think for every player who drops off considerably when they reach 30 or so, there’s plenty of other examples that prove that it’s not always the case.

 

[matador]

Apologies, I meant European teams.

Oh, I get it.

Well, I guess that depends on the team where the player is at currently. Right now I'm sure the Manchester United fanbase will grow a lot (which is already big, I would say). I'd say Manchester United, Bayern Munich, and Liverpool, in that order.

 

[el3mel]

Why didn't they release any pictures of training today ? Looks really weird.

 

[Adisa]

Luca Toni

 

[pseudo_canadian]

Why didn't they release any pictures of training today ? Looks really weird.

Give it 48 hours.

 

[stygg]

Any pics from today’s training session? Can’t wait to see him in action.

 

[royboy16]

Come on guys, no pictures or videos today ?

Maybe he'll be with our leader Thursday for the FA Cup presser ?