You might think it weird to talk about Arsenal’s 2014/2015 Player of the Year in terms of what he can do to further improve, but Arsène Wenger has recently done just that, talking about Alexis Sánchez. Wenger’s comments, however, come in the middle of his ebullient praise for the Chilean, whom he believes is on the same level as some of the top offensive forces in world football.
Speaking to the media, Wenger noted: “He is already better than when he arrived.
“In his final finishing there is room for improvement, in his final ball he is already much better, his vision is quite good and incisive.”
Wenger also took the opportunity to praise Sánchez’s style, saying: “He has that desire to go forward and provoke. He is a guy who provokes chaos in the defences because he has a go at you.
“He does not go across, he goes straight.
“His desire to go forward, to provoke opponents, to run at people, creates danger.”
Further, the boss had plenty of warm words for Alexis’s fighting spirit, the same spirit that immediately made him a fan favourite of the Emirates faithful: “I have had players like that but he has the style.
“What Sánchez has is that in the first two yards he is lightning quick. He has that explosive attitude linked with his spirit.
“That makes him even more spectacular.”
Finally, in what has to be considered the some of the highest praise an attacking player can receive right now (short of being compared with Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo), Wenger expressed his belief that Alexis is every bit as good as Barcelona’s superstar (and former Arsenal target), Luis Suarez. Arsène claimed: “They are at the same level. Suarez is a central striker and Sánchez is more a wide player who likes to go up and down and is involved in dribbling.
“But they have similarities. In South America they are richer in strikers than Europe.
“You look at Aguero, Messi, Suarez, Sánchez, I could name many of them.
“They produce more than us and we have to look at ourselves and see how we can correct that.”
While the boss believes there may be room for improvement in Alexis’s game, he clearly is deeply impressed with the jewel of his 2014 signings, and his words reflect the respect he has for Alexis’s current game as well as his continued potential.
