Alexis Sanchez says he’s enjoyed his first six months at the Emirates, refuted suggestions he’s the club’s ‘star’ player and confirmed he’s doing his best to learn English.
In a wide ranging interview with Chilean publication La Tercera, the 25-year-old spoke openly about the highs and lows of a year that has seen him impress at the World Cup, leave Barcelona and make the move to the Premier League.
“I think it has been a good year, with more positives than negatives.
“Every year I focus on the good stuff, the happy things. And up to now, every years has been a good one, clearly with some better than others. But the most important thing is what is yet to come and to try and continue learning and improving, because that’s the only way to progress.
“When you make a decision you have to convince yourself that it’s the best,” he noted of his decision to join Arsenal. It’s impossible to know what would have happened if you had made another decision. So far, I am happy at Arsenal.
“I have arrived in a league that I love, my club is fantastic with great teammates, a world-renowned coach who really cares about his players… everyone is great! And I’ve recently begun exploring the city more, which is very beautiful and I am enjoying it a lot.
“Being ‘the star’ is all relative, I don’t agree [that I am]. We have a squad with lots of great players, world class ones, World Cup winners with Germany and other players who play for England or France. In this group I’m just another player.
“I’ve been lucky to start well but you don’t give the book a title until you’ve finished writing it.”
A hero to the people of Chile, Sanchez also touched on why he doesn’t give many interviews despite being such a high profile individual in his homeland.
“I’m just not very comfortable giving interviews. I know it’s important and I understand and respect a lot the work of media. But sometimes I see a lot of lies. Some of the press in Chile just keeps makes stuff up out of nowhere, giving false information and then the rest of the world just replicates the lies.
“It’s hard for people to distinguish between the serious stuff and the rest. There are some reports that have done a lot of harm in my private and professional life. I wish there was a bit more of respect for the truth; in my case, that I’m a person that represents Chile abroad and that tries to do his best.
“There are a lot of children that see me as a role model and I know that they imitate me playing sport. For that, I thinks it’s an important responsibility. I see it this way and I think that the media should be more careful when they report about my private life. I also understand that giving interviews is a way to be known better and will try to improve in this area as well.”
__
Heads up to Reddit user Mataxp for the translation.
The perfect bloke?!
I agree, he seems very grounded and humble. Where would we be without him? Can’t wait to see Sanchez, Walcott, and Ozil link up…can’t be long now!
That is called Theozilexis, a potent biological combination that attacks the human defence mechanism. The symptoms are hypnotic spels and floundering.
We need to have 25 world class players. 25. Thats all.
Very difficult to keep 14 world class players happy when they aren’t starters.
Nah, by the time Ozil and Walcott are back, Sanchez will be out ‘for three weeks’ with a season-ending injury.
Can you imagine someone like Wayne Rooney coming out with this kind of talk?
Too true. And people compare him to the chomper, heh.
*swoons*
It’s scary to know how good he could be a year on from now. He has the perfect attitude for a player. I saw his goal against Athelitico Madrid last season and thought i wouldn’t mind him playing for Arsenal one day. Six months on and we can’t imagine our team without him.
That goal…! Even replayed in slo-mo it’s hard to work out how it goes in. One of the purest strikes you will ever see, and in a critical match for Barca too.
Love his humility and hope we really look after him for many years.
Indeed but that showed to me the possibility of what we can achieve with him. Wenger needs to build around him. In a years time we can be a force to be reckoned with.
What a gem we’ve found in Alexis! Absolutely love this guy!
It’s getting to the stage where I believe he will go down as one of the best to pull on the jersey. Love him.
If you eat sausages every day it’s easy to return to caviar.
Its scary but which invincible would you drop for Alexis Sexis?
seriously….
Freddie, Bobby, Denis, Paddy or TH
:O
and yet here we are thinking about how we could fit him in.
I love me some Freddie but Alexis is a different class. Freddies biggest strenth was his tirelessness. Alexis beats him even there and is far away in every other aspect.
But, but he had red hair…
Thought i couldn’t love this guy more than i already do, welp guess i was wrong.
aside knowing where the goal is, he also know how to choose his words accurately. well spoken. keep ignoring those media propaganda and you will be ok.
“I’ve been lucky to start well but you don’t give
the book a title until you’ve finished writing it.”
aside knowing where the goal is, he also know how to choose his words accurately. well spoken. keep ignoring those media propaganda and you will be ok.
Started exploring the city more eh??
Where’s my stalker cap…
The amount of reports I’ve heard of him womanizing and getting ex’s pregnant and the like… I’m not surprised he’s not a fan of the Chilean media. Let the guy play!
Do they not know he signed for us and not Chelsea?
Seriously though, it’s refreshing to hear it. The media even in this country need to be held accountable for the shite they make up.
I would make up a nice metaphor about a restaurant selling one thing labeled as something far more expensive and selling it to us but I can’t be arsed.
Oh Alexis Sanchez.. Oh how we love thee!
We found a gem!
This guy has a really good head on his shoulders. Honestly, I could see him becoming captain someday. He’s already our talisman and leading goalscorer….
Best import in the league this season by far.
Things have a way of working out. If we had bought Suarez we won’t have had Sanchez. And you can guarantee that Suarez would have been angling for a move to Barca or Madrid after 2-3 years. I’m happy the way things worked out
Alexis Swoonchez 🙂
Sorry for the thumbs down mate but that was painful 😉
Sanchez is quality player Credit where credit is due Im glad Wenger signed him
Dare I say, “Arsene knows”?
Liverpool so there u have it, Sanchez joined us because of our well renowned coach.He didn’t want to be manage by Rogers… Brenda who? We are talking about serious football at Emirates…. Meanwhile at Anfield,you talking about SAS.
Whatever we’re smoking at the emirates seem to be the right stuff
As much as I love Sanchez, I can’t help but live in fear that he will eventually move to Man City or another more cashed up club.
If this was 3/4 years ago that would be a major problem, but now we’re in a state of much more stability in terms of finance and the squad itself. We have much more ability to retain our key players nowadays.
Why so many thumbs down? It’s happened so many times before and deep down we all know it’s going to happen again.
I gave you a thumbs down because in an article that is nothing but positive – our best player saying all the right things and coming across as eloquent, to go with his world class ability we’ve all been witnessing this season, you have managed to find the negative. A negative that is totally unfounded given our current financial muscle.
So what if we have more financial power now? Do you really think we can compete with the likes of Man City, Chelsea or even Real Madrid? If Sanchez continues to perform as he is, eventually one of those clubs is going to come calling with a fatter paycheck than what we can offer. Not trying to troll here, but I also have to laugh at descriptions of his “eloquence” and how positively he speaks about Arsenal. This is an official interview to a newspaper, just how many publicists do you think vetted this thing before it went out? Even… Read more »
“Some of the press in Chile just keeps makes stuff up out of nowhere, giving false information and then the rest of the world just replicates the lies.” Is the “in Chile” qualifier really necessary?
In all seriousness, Alexis seems like he’s got his head screwed on right. Never a lost cause on the pitch for him, is there? He really is the Chilean Energizer Bunny.
We have a brilliantl assortment of attacking midfielders. Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky , Walcott, these players could play on any World Class team. So, what of J Wilshere? Can Le Prof see that he and Rambo could complete the puzzle, in behind these players? Maybe as the years roll by (and they will), Jack can be deployed more forward, but for this season, it doesnt make sense. As Wenger says, “players need to go back to basics” and on his return, in the deep role, he may well reinvent himself to be the player he was two seasons ago……….now wouldnt… Read more »
I just hope all the so say suppopters having a go at AW only a few weeks ago will relalise it was mostly Wegners influence that got him to Arsenal, as Liverpool had all the aces at the time, but when it comes to class Wegner as it.
Yes, Wenger had a hand in it. He is still regarded by some among the best managers in Europe for previous achievements (But he are not the right man for the job anymore..). I mean failure to beat your league rivals since 2011 speaks it’s clear language. A failure to bring in players which the club really needs is another one. Ruthlessness on the transfer market selling key players to other rival clubs without any respect whatsoever for the fans. He trusts a few players in the squad and will overplay them without rotating his squad. He failed to give… Read more »
Don’t pretend like wenger is the best manager on this planet please. Because he really is not, he once was. But that once was 10 years ago. Now in reality he has failed to beat a league rival since 2011, been ruthless in the transfermarket times and times again. He failed to bring back Fabregas who is now ‘king of the assists’ in the BPL. He turned down to sign Alex Song even though we were in need of a DM, (better than the nothing we have right now…) He sold some of our best players to league rivals and… Read more »
I wonder if some people go to bed and dream of ways to write harsh and repeatable (yawn) comments on blogs about Arsene Wenger short comings. I’d like to see a full page comment on his strengths and quality. Buy hey! Negative is not empowering
What exactly are his strengths this season? Consistent struggle for 4th place? We should be competing for titles not 4th place(s)
Here’s a thought, maybe he couldn’t win against those big clubs in the Prem because he just wasn’t able to buy quality players due to our debts?
And now that he has the money, he doesn’t wish to blow it all half arsed players like Song, choosing to spend big and wisely on actual quality players like Ozil and Sanchez when they are available, because we still have a financial constraint.
What a load of bullshit. It is not like the difference in quality from the players we have is what makes the difference. Sure they effect the outcome of the game. But it is not like the difference in individual quality is massive between us and the other teams in the division. It should be 50/50 games more or less, yet in arsenals case it is 10/90. It is all down to the manager, stop protect his failure..
You do know that matches are being played by players themselves. Inferior quality players will always bring inferior games to them. It was mostly Wenger that dragged this team to top 4 finishes.
And now that we are beginning to see light at the end of our dark tunnel, you do not wish to see how we can turn things around? Sure it is slow, but we need to get behind the team instead of whining off of their heads. The damage has been too huge, the rectification is in progress.
Pretty cheeky coming from someone who drools shit as he keeps typing responses after responses.
There are plenty of valid reasons to be disappointed with Wenger, but for not resigning Alex Song???
That is not one of them.
Well, he is one of the reasons why west ham have done good so far. Besides he is better than what we currently got.
I guess you don’t watch too many WHU games (I don’t), but according to my WH fan brother, Song is playing more B2B than DM. He does sometimes sit back but he tends to lose the ball in bad places, so they have others that he plays next to/in front of, to mop us behind him.
Song was better than anything West Ham had, but is not necessarily better than anything we’ve got. I’d rather have Arteta at DM any day, because he plays the role far better than Song every could, can, or will.
And in case you didn’t notice, one volley aside, Song was pretty much crap against us the other day. I realize you spend your entire life thinking up new ways to whine about everything and then some, but for fuck’s sake, at least try to make the whines somewhat intelligent onec in a while.
Fiat owns ferrari. The intent of your analogy in reality is illogic
Media lies?!
Alexis, you are la estrella de Arsenal, punto final.
Legend in the making. ( Depends on whether we decide to cash in in a couple of years, his value is appreciating by the minute)
I love how he mentioned that he doesn’t see himself as the star player and that he is part of a team. Even his tweet yesterday and he put in capital letters “TEAM” shows that he doesn’t want this star player tag on him and that the team is what matters. Probably was cheesed off by the interview after the QPR game when Rosicky had a magnificent game and all the journo wanted to speak about was Alexis and you could see that Flamini and Rosicky were cheesed off. Seems to have a good head on his shoulders as well… Read more »
What a guy.
News has it that Godzila aka Mertercielny was spotted yesterday at Westhampton. Media reports that Westhampton players were seen trying to destroy “the monster” but were unable as their attacks were consistently stopped. There are hopes among Arsenal fans that the “monster” will be seen again at Southampton.
Yawn
What a likeable chap this little pocket dynamo is. He’s absolutely right that although he is the stand out player at the moment, the team does not function on one player alone. NO point scoring all the goals if the team keeps leaking them in on the other end. This is a collective responsibility and one the Chilean reminds everyone with his hard work closing down high up. He has also IMO to some extent elevated the play of Ox. A fantastic role model in both his technique and industry for the younger players. This is a young team with… Read more »
In his first interview in Chile, he said that he decided for Arsenal because of Wenger.
He must have really missed going to Chile at Christmas time; every year he goes to his little town and gives a big big party for all the children there, buys gifts for all of them spends time with them, the works. Just a great player and role model all the way around.
Top lad.
Hey guys from chile, i think the media over there should talk better about this guy, he represents this country , besides chile and england have a good political friendship, he is opening the door for other young humble players like him, there’s more they just need help getting there, i currently live in the u.s and makes me happy every time i see him playing for arsenal, he belongs there, peace
Media…You dont like this guy?? Spreading shit about him?? Seriously??
Get a life assholes…
You are very fortunate that a player and person like Alexis Sanchez was born in Chile
Be Proud of him because we gooners all around the world are…