By Ewah Chika.
Alexis Sanchez might not have won the English Premier League or exploded in England as expected following his highly publicised £32 million move from Barcelona in 2014, yet even all these have done little to spoil the Chilean's decent record in England. The attacker is already a crowd favourite after scoring 30 goals in 68 league games for Arsenal which is an improvement on his 39 goals in 88 games for Barcelona.
"I have reached a level where I can compete with great players. I don't feel inferior to anybody. I liken my qualities to Messi and Ronaldo. I have the same abilities as them," were the words of the attacker last week, a statement which has ignited arguments.
While it may look more like Sanchez is trying to blow his trumpet, a look at his attributes, form and stats while in England will help to answer the question if truly he is close to the pair or just under-rated.
Firstly, Sanchez is as fast and skilful as the pair although it may be said that he is stronger and more physical than both judging from his game. The Chilean is also a better tackler and more suited to a team that plays a high energy pressing game due to his determination and defensive attributes.
However, the main problem that has blighted the Chilean's game is inconsistency which has been reoccurring since his days in Udinese, and which he is yet to overcome even while in Barcelona playing with the best players in the world at the time. This is clearly shown by the fact that Sanchez in his career is yet to score in the Champions League knockout stage despite playing in over 15 games while in Barcelona and Arsenal. The attacker has also failed to shine in important and high profile Champions League games as he was went missing In games against Monaco, Bayern Munich and Barcelona with Arsenal unable to make it past the second round In his three years in North London.
Last season, the Arsenal star man scored 13 goals in 30 league games which is way less than Messi's 26 goals in 33 games and Ronaldo's 35 goals in 36 games , meaning that the Chilean will have to work on his finishing which is miles behind the pair. Also, Sanchez's poor conversion rate is so awful that his 12.1 % conversion rate was the worst of all 21 players to score more than 10 goals in the Premier League last season.
Sanchez was also outclassed by the duo last season considering his 3.6 shots per game was miles behind Messi's 4.8 and Ronaldo's 6.3, which shows he still has a lot to learn before he compares himself with the pair . Creativity is the area the attacker will need to improve the most as his four assist last season is nothing compared with Messi's 16 and Ronaldo's 10 although the quality of the team comes into consideration as Arsenal have the likes of Oliver Giroud, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey who are most likely to miss chances compared to the likes of Neymar Junior, Luis Suarez, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale. The gap in the quality in the three clubs is illustrated by the fact that Sanchez made 2.4 key passes per game last season which is higher than Messi's 2.3 and Ronaldo's 1.4, explaining the reason the Arsenal star had a poor assist return was partly due to the quality of players in North London.
Sanchez again outclassed Ronaldo's last season's successful dribbles of 1.4 per game with his 3.4 which is just 0.1 less than Messi's 3.5.
Judging from these stats from (Whoscored), it is clear that though Sanchez is not at their level, he is not too far from them also considering he is entering his peak (27) as he is two years younger than Messi and four years younger than Ronaldo.
Perhaps another point that should be noted is that the Chilean has been more consistent while on International duty winning trophies more than Messi and Ronaldo combined together judging from his two consecutive Copa America triumph beating Messi and star studded Argentina twice on each occasion, hence winning Chile's first major trophy.
Therefore, though it is not fair to compare Ronaldo and Messi to Sanchez, it should be noted that statistically the Chilean is not far from the pair as extensively explained in the write up. One thing is sure though and that is that Alexis Sanchez will forever be revered in both Arsenal (won the FA Cup twice ) and Chile considering his form for both .
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