Barcelona sign Alexis Sanchez for £23 million

by **Crimey** Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:13 am

Alexis Sanchez is set to join Barcelona from Udinese for a fee of £23m, which could rise as high as £33m.

The Chilean winger, who will undergo a medical on Monday, has signed a five-year deal with the La Liga and Champions League holders.

Sanchez, 22, was voted Serie A's best player last season having scored 12 times in 31 games.

Sanchez, who has 40 caps for Chile, signed for Udinese in 2006 from Chilean side Cobreloa.

Should the deal reach the maximum £33m, it will be Barcelona's second most expensive signing having paid Inter Milan £40m for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a move that saw Samuel Eto'o move in the opposite direction.

"Sanchez is very young," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola.

"He can play in all three attacking positions, he shows intense defensive skills, he's direct and from what I've been told, he's a very nice kid."

Sanchez was the subject of a bid by Manchester City last month but, despite the Chilean being open to a move to the Etihad Stadium according to boss Roberto Mancini, City withdrew their bid.

So the chase is over for this player, I wonder whether he'll manage to get into the first team, or like Ibrahimovic will he struggle with the Barcelona 'culture'. I genuinly think he's most likely to take over from Villa, and play on the left with Messi down the centre and Pedro on the right, I don't thinl he'll be a success though, I think Barcelona have a problem where they find it hard to accept players who haven't been raised the 'Barcelona way' just look at Ibrahimovic, Mascherano, Keita, Affelay, and there was even rumors that they wanted to offload the excellent David Villa.

Does this mean they're no longer in the hunt for Fabregas? I'm sure I read somewhere that they only had a £50 million transfer budget.

by **Derbyblue** Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:13 am

fernando wrote:I think Barcelona have a problem where they find it hard to accept players who haven't been raised the 'Barcelona way' just look at Ibrahimovic, Mascherano, Keita, Affelay, and there was even rumors that they wanted to offload the excellent David Villa.

I wouldn't say Mascherano's problem is he didn't come through the Barcelona system, but more that Guardiola was rumoured to never have wanted him as he didn't want to displace Busquets, which I would say was shown by the fact most of his appearances at defensive mid came off the bench.

Also I've read before that they would be happy to spend over their transfer budget by taking it out of the next windows budget, if they felt it necessary to get a player they want.

by Smirnoffpriest Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:53 am

I've heard that they've set money aside for both Sanchez and Fab - but I think just like last season it's a mute point as Wenger/Arsenal won't sell and Fab won't force a move.

That won't stop all the hot air coming out of Barce though

by Thomond Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:54 am

I have no idea why they signed him. He is a fantastic player and all but do they need him. He might be a good option off the bench I suppose.

by Smirnoffpriest Fri Jul 22, 2011 12:45 pm

I agree Thomond - but then why do they need Fabergas, or why did they need Mascherano - the Spaniards don't seem happy unless they've signed some big name or expensive player to try and tell the world that they are the best

by **Crimey** Fri Jul 22, 2011 12:56 pm

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I agree Thomond - but then why do they need Fabergas, or why did they need Mascherano - the Spaniards don't seem happy unless they've signed some big name or expensive player to try and tell the world that they are the best

They could probably do brilliantly just with the produc of their youth sides anyway, I think they sign people just to show they can compete in the transfer market if they need to.

They've got brilliant players on the bench with Mascherano and Affelay, and now probably Sanchez as well, it's such a shame.

by formerly known as Sam Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:22 pm

Maybe they are confident of him making an impact and his value increasing ahead of a future sale at profit. Barca aren't very wealthy, in fact they are significantly in the red and only staying affloat due to the massive sponsors and prize money they are getting.

Also Borjan Kricic (or however you spell it) has gone to Roma so they had a spot over the in their squad. Though that is really a squad place and not a first team place.

by Smirnoffpriest Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:23 pm

£23m seems like a lot of money for a squad player - or if he replaces Villa (which I think is crazy), Villa is an expensive player to have on the bench

by formerly known as Sam Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:45 pm

It only seems a lot of money for a squad player if you believe you can't increase his value and flog him on to some excessively rich team e.g. Chelsea or Man City in a few years time once they've had another round of managerial sackings and squad overhauls.

Barca tend to do fairly well in the transfer market, didn't they sell Ibrahimovic for a tidy profit despite the fact he's incredibley lazy? They also like to splash the cash on at least one big signing a year, last year it was Mascherano, this year it's Sanchez. Think there's still a special Fabrecas pot still waiting to be spent though. Most of this will be subsidised by the flogging of any academy talent not quite good enough e.g. Jeffren, Bojan etc.

by Smirnoffpriest Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:50 pm

As far as I can remember Barca lost quite a lot on Ibra as they signed him for the ridiculous price of £46m (or was it Euros?) plus Eto (another £20m being generous), and sold him for £24m.

One of the craziest transfers ever as Eto was twice the player Ibra was, but they paid over the odds for Ibra AND gave Inter Eto! Madness.

by **Crimey** Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:07 pm

Yeah, they no where near made a profit on Ibrahimovic, they lost huge amounts.

by formerly known as Sam Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:33 pm

Ah I stand corrected. No wonder they never claw themselves out of the red then.

by Smirnoffpriest Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:49 pm

it's the same as Real Madrid - Spanish clubs have to be seen to be making marque signings or at least bidding astronomical fees for players. And with Madrid it was signing galaticos and when that didn't work it was sell them at a loss and sign more galaticos.

With Barcalona it's bring through great youth and all the players you'll need but add a big signing you can't possibly afford and don't need just to make sure everyone knows your a big dog in the transfer market.

by Kay Fabe Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:42 am

Villa hardly set the heather on fire last season which seems a strange thing to say considering he scored 20+ goals and a CL Final goal but he had quite a few dry spells and wasn't exactly top of his game a lot of the time, Sanchez could keep him and Pedro on their toes

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