Alexis Sanchez is a player that many Arsenal fans look back on with great fondness but tinged with an element of betrayal considering the end of his time. He made the decision to switch to Manchester United in the final year of his contract.
This was a decision he soon came to regret. So soon in fact he has gone on record saying that he wanted to come back to Arsenal after just one training session playing for his new side.
"After the first training session I realised many things, I came home and asked my family and my manager if I could not break the contract and return to Arsenal, something did not fit me, but I had already signed," Alexis Sanchez said.
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"Months passed and I kept feeling the same. We were not united as a team at that time. The journalists also spoke without knowing and it hurt. Former players also spoke and had no idea what was happening inside the club. And they hurt me.”
Alexis arrived at Arsenal in 2014 as a 25-year-old having spent the early stages of his career at Barcelona. This wasn’t the Barca of today but the La Liga and Copa del Rey winning side that has seen Pep Guardiola leave a year prior to Sanchez’s sale.
Alexis had won six trophies and wanted a new challenge that Arsenal could give. Fast-forward to 2022 and this summer Arsenal have signed another 25-year-old South American attacker who spent his early years under the tutelage of Guardiola at one of Europe’s most successful sides.
Gabriel Jesus arrives at Arsenal as one of the new breed of top-quality players Mikel Arteta and Edu want to help raise the Gunners back to the elite level. Not just qualifying for the Champions League, but as Jesus said upon his arrival, winning everything.
Jesus told Goal: “It is a big club with a big project. When Edu explained to me what they want for the future, I was so excited to join Arsenal because I love the project.
“I want to win trophies. I want to win everything.”
Alexis had a huge impact on the likes of Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil. He helped elevate the game of those around him just through his own performances.
Whilst it is very early to be guaranteeing this will be the case with Jesus, the early glimpses of what he can do have been beyond encouraging. In the game against Nurnberg at 2-0 down, Jesus comes on and scores within 90 seconds.
But it was his impact on the players around him that was even more noticeable than the ball hitting the back of the net. Eddie Nketiah looked like he had been brought on as a sub as his energy, movement and engagement with the game increased by several levels from his first half display.
Young players like Gabriel Martinelli and new boy Marquinhos were harrying and pressing the German side. Arsenal eventually won 5-3 and it would take quite the criticism not to hand Jesus the plaudits for the spectacular five-goal rout in the second half.
The parallels between the Alexis move and Jesus’ arrival before a ball was kicked were obvious. But in these short stints in the team, there’s a growing feeling that the potential to see that on-field impact replicated could become a reality.
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