ALEXIS SANCHEZ SANCHEZ PROFILE

Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez

Explosive forward Alexis proved his undoubted worth to Arsenal again last season.

The Chile international followed up his highly impressive debut season with the Gunners by continuing to terrorise defences, both in the Premier League and on the continent.

The all-action, energetic front man, who can play wide or in a more central attacking position, claimed his first hat-trick for the club during the 5-2 win at Leicester in September. It made him the first player to score trebles in each of the top leagues in England, Spain and Italy.

Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez, also known as simply Alexis, was born in Tocopilla, Chile at 19 December 1988 is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for English club Arsenal and the Chilean national team.

After his debut season of first-team football with Cobreloa, Sánchez was signed by Italy's Udinese Calcio in 2006. Following successful loans at Colo-Colo and River Plate, he began playing in Serie A. In 2011, he was signed by Barcelona for £25 million, becoming the most expensive transfer in Chilean football history. 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.

Sánchez has been a full international for Chile since 2006, and has earned 100 caps, making him the team's second-most capped player of all time after goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. With 36 goals, he is their second top scorer of all time. He played in two FIFA World Cups (2010 and 2014) as well as three Copa América tournaments, winning two of the latter.

On 10 July 2014, Sánchez signed for Arsenal on a long-term contract for a transfer fee of £31.7 million. Sánchez was given the squad number 17, previously worn by Nacho Monreal, who took the vacant number 18 instead. In a statement released by the club, Sánchez said that he was "so happy to be joining Arsenal, a club which has a great manager, a fantastic squad of players, huge support around the world and a great stadium in London".

Manager Arsène Wenger praised Sánchez, saying that the Chilean international "has consistently produced top-quality performances at the highest level for a number of seasons now and we are all excited to see him integrate into the Arsenal squad." Sánchez made his first appearance for Arsenal on 2 August 2014, as a substitute during a 5–1 win against Benfica in the pre-season Emirates Cup tournament.

On 16 August, he made his Premier League debut against Crystal Palace, assisting Laurent Koscielny's equaliser in a 2-1 home win. He then scored his first goal for Arsenal on 27 August, slotting the ball past Beşiktaş goalkeeper Tolga Zengin in stoppage time of the first half to secure a 1–0 aggregate victory and a spot in the group stage of the 2014–15 Champions League. Following the game, Wenger was full of praise for Sánchez, with the Arsenal manager saying, "He had a good game, not only on the technical side but on the fighting side. He was mobile, dangerous and has shown as well he has great fighting spirit, qualities that will be very important in the Premier League."

When launching their new kit for the 2016-17 season, Arsenal announced that Sánchez will change squad number from 17 to 7, which was vacated by the departing Tomáš Rosický.

Sánchez is a quick, creative, and hardworking player with an eye for goal, who is known in particuar for his energy, skill, and work-rate on the pitch. Although naturally right-footed, due to his ability with either foot, he is capable of playing anywhere along the front line, on either flank, or through the centre of the pitch: throughout his career, he has been deployed as a supporting striker, as a winger, as a false-9, and even as an attacking midfielder. A talented forward, Sánchez is gifted with excellent technical ability, agility, flair and acceleration, which enables him to dribble past opponents with feints in one on one situations, create space, and either score goals himself or set-up his team-mates. He is also effective from set-pieces.

Alexis ended the season closing in on 100 first-team appearances, having been an instant success after joining from Barcelona following the 2014 World Cup.   

He concluded his first season at Arsenal with a screamer in the FA Cup final, was named in the PFA Team of the Year and was named PFA Fans' Player of the Season.

During three seasons in Spain, Alexis won the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup (2011), the Copa del Rey (2012) and the league title (2013).

ALEXIS SANCHEZ PROFILE:

Full name     :  Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez
Date of birth: 19 December 1988.
Place of birth: Tocopilla, Chile
Height        : 1.69 m.
Playing position: Forward/Winger
Number      :  7

Club information:

Youth career:
2004–2005      Cobreloa

Senior career:
2005–2006: Cobreloa
2006–2011: Udinese
2006–2007: Colo-Colo (loan)
2007–2008: River Plate (loan)
2011–2014 : Barcelona
2014–....     : Arsenal

National team:
2006-2008: Chile U-20
2006-....    : Chile

Source: arsenal.com & wikipedia.com