It has been a protracted transfer that seemed to be going on for ever, bt Barcelona have announced that they have finally signed Udinese’s Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez for 26 million euros with a potential 11.5 million euros in add-ons.
“Udinese and FC Barcelona have reached a final agreement for the transfer of Alexis Sanchez,” Barca said in a statement.
The 22-year-old Sanchez started out as a youth recruit at Chilean club Cobreloa, where his goal-scoring exploits earned him the nickname “wonder kid”.
After joining Udinese in 2006, he had loan spells at Colo Colo in Chile and River Plate in Argentina before returning to Italy and winning a regular place in the first team in the 2008-09 season.
He was voted Serie A player of last season by daily La Gazzetta dello Sport after netting 12 goals in 31 matches, including four in one game, he helped Chile reach the quarter-finals at the Copa America.
It will be interesting to see how Barca use Sanchez as their forward line last year of Pedro, Messi and Villa was the best in Europe. Which one of those three gets dropped go make way for Sanchez?