As he prepares to face his former side for the first time, Tom Adams reflects on how Alexis Sanchez helped pave the way for the best attack of all time.
When the most playfully-destructive and lyrically-garlanded football attack ever assembled steps onto the Emirates Stadium turf on Tuesday night, so too will the man who inadvertently helped put them together.
Back in the summer of 2014, it was Alexis Sanchez who was sacrificed by Barca to Arsenal for £35m to facilitate the £75m signing of Luis Suarez, completing what Laurent Koscielny described this week as “the best offensive armada in Europe or even the world.”
It was a transaction which stirred the deep currents of football’s history. Since the two transfers, Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar have combined for a barely believable 213 goals in two seasons. There have been 91 alone in 2015-16 – 41 for Suarez, 27 for Messi and 23 for Neymar – and it would be a minor miracle if that total has not been gently augmented after Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg between Barcelona and Arsenal.
Expensively assembled, the envy of the world and packed full of firepower, the armada described by Koscielny does bear some comparison with another Spanish Armada; though Luis Enrique’s side are likely to have rather more success in their raid on England than . This time, with Suarez returning to these shores, England could fall.
It was not just Barca who profited from the deals: the signing of Sanchez had a galvanising impact for Arsenal too. He does not have two of the greats of the game to play off, no historic dynamic unfolding around him, but the Chilean’s dangerous dribbling, relentless running and fierce finishing have become a distinctive facet of Arsenal’s game. His piledriver in the FA Cup final last season seemed to confirm his essentiality to Arsenal’s ongoing success.
For a time, the two even seemed to be operating on similar planes. After a stellar first season with Arsenal, Sanchez was named the Football Supporters’ Federation Player of the Year for 2015 - an honour that had gone to Suarez two years previously. As recently as August, Arsene Wenger claimed: “they are at the same level”. But if once it was a supportable opinion, it is no longer. There has been a marked diversion in the intervening months, and both men have played their part.
If Sanchez is still identified as Arsenal’s most potent threat, it is in spite of his recent form, not because of it. Shots that last season would have found the corner are now whistling wide; driving runs into the box which would have yielded an assist are now dead ends. Wasteful recent performances against Leicester City and Southampton magnify a wider trend: Alexis Sanchez has stopped scoring.
Not entirely of course. His drop-off hasn't been as pronounced as that of Eden Hazard, who beat him to the PFA Player of the Year award last season, but it is nevertheless undeniable that Sanchez is not producing in front of goal in the manner that Arsenal might have expected.
In fact, apart from a brilliant burst of 10 goals in six games for club and country between September 26 and October 17, Sanchez has scored only three goals this season. A prolonged absence due to injury has not helped, but his productivity has slumped. If Arsenal are to have any chance against Barcelona, let alone actually win one of the three trophies they are competing for this season, this needs to change.
Suarez, meanwhile, has entered a new stratosphere. While he still exudes humility in deferring to Messi at all times - referring even his own fans to the Argentine when they are trying to find out who is the best in the world - he is now the most prolific member of Barca’s much vaunted attack. Again, this can in part be explained by Messi’s injury problems this season, but Suarez has taken the central position at Barca and is now the leading source of goals too.
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