Alexis Sanchez has had a rough couple of weeks, bless him.
Days on from featuring in Arsenal’s mauling at the hands of Liverpool, his hopes of a move to Manchester City went up in smoke as the clubs failed to reach an agreement for his transfer on deadline day.
Things haven’t exactly improved for him on international duty, either. A 3-0 defeat at home to Paraguay was followed by a 1-0 loss to Bolivia in La Paz. The back-to-back defeats mean Chile – the Copa America champions – are now outside South America’s automatic qualifying places for the World Cup. With two rounds of qualifiers remaining, there’s now a very real possibility that they won’t be boarding a plane to Russia next summer.
Having spent the time since posting cryptic Instagram messages that nobody really understands, the Mirror report the 28-year-old is ‘doubtful’ for Arsenal’s weekend clash with Bournemouth.
Sanchez was far from his best for his national side and has been criticised for his level of fitness in the games. Perhaps the most blunt assessment of his current physical condition came from Jose Sulantay, Chile’s former Under-20 and Under-17 boss, who suggested Sanchez was overweight after the Paraguay game.
“I saw him gone. I saw him out of physical shape, totally. He’s fatter than normal.” Sulantay said.
“Without his spark, he never left that Paraguayan defence behind. He never made a diagonal run, it was something else. It was not Alexis.
“This can bring you problems later, the statements of wanting to leave.”
