Alexis Sanchez is a Chilean attacker known in his homeland as "the Wonder Kid" or "El Niño Maravilla". Alexis began his career with Cobreloa before signing for Udinese in a £2m deal in 2006.

The 18 year old has already represented the Chilean national side 7 times. Alexis has spent last season on loan at Colo Colo where he won the Chilean Primera Division. Udinese then decided to loan the player to River Plate for the coming season. On March 20 2007 Alexis bagged three goals in a Copa Libertadores match against Caracas and began to show the skill that alerted Udinese to his superb talent.

Although Alexis is rather short at 5 foot 5, he has tremendous pace and dribbling ability especially at speed. Many have already began comparing him to Lionel Messi. Sanchez has fantastic shooting ability as shown already for Cobreloa and Colo Colo. Alexis Sánchez is also equally useful with the ball at both feet.

Several clubs have been linked with an interest in Alexis Sánchez in recent months, most notably in Italy where several wished to take the young player on loan. However, Udinese have decided that sending him back to South America will aid the player in developing his talent.

While the player is brilliant up front it could be argued that the player could be more useful playing on the wing on just off a striker. The only downsides of this talent is his short size (which has not affected similar talents in the past) and his temperament is questionable as he has been known to lose focus during some games.

EYEFOOTBALL RATING
Potential Ability: 44/50
Current Ability: 37/50