While they haven’t quite had the success that the size of the club demands, Arsenal have boasted some genuinely great players during the Emirates era.
The likes of Mesut Özil, Cesc Fàbregas and Santi Cazorla did things few other players could even dream of in the middle of the park, while Robin van Persie looked like the best striker in the world for a period.
Even during the early period of Mikel Arteta’s tenure, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang was breaking records up top, but when it comes to the most talented star the team had before the current squad came to be, plenty of fans will point to Alexis Sanchez.
In his pomp, the Chile international was a sight to behold, and now it seems like the Gunners may finally have their new version of the former superstar.
Sanchez's Arsenal career
In the summer of 2014, Arsenal spent around £35m on then-Barcelona winger Sanchez, and while there was some understandable excitement from fans at the time, nobody quite expected him to be as good as he was going to be.
For example, in his first season with the club, the incredibly gifted international managed to rack up a sensational haul of 25 goals and 12 assists in just 52 appearances.
Not only that, but he played a pivotal role in the club’s FA Cup triumph that year, which was their second in as many years.
Over the next three and a half years, the Tocopilla-born phenom would win another FA Cup and three Community Shields while also racking up a tally of 80 goals and 44 assists in 166 appearances, totalling 13556 minutes.
That means he averaged a goal involvement every 1.33 games or every 109.32 minutes for the entirety of his Arsenal career.
Appearances
52
41
51
22
Goals
25
17
30
8
Assists
12
11
18
4
Goal Involvements per Match
0.71
0.68
0.94
0.54
However, for all his work, he’s no longer a particularly popular figure around the Emirates, as in January 2018, he moved to Manchester United as Henrikh Mkhitaryan moved the other way, in what might be one of the worst swap deals in history.
The former Gunners star would fail to make an impact at Old Trafford and, just two-and-a-half years later, was sold to Inter Milan.
In all, Sanchez remains one of the greatest players the Emirates has ever seen, and now it looks like Arteta might just have his own version of the Chilean in his squad.
Arsenal's new Sanchez
While the Gunners have a number of talented wingers in the squad, like Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, someone compared to Sanchez has to be truly special, so it will come as no surprise that the player in question is Bukayo Saka.
Now, the comparison stems from a recent OptaJoe statistic, which is the fact that, following his goal against Fulham earlier this month, the Hale Ender became the first Arsenal player to score and assist ten-plus goals “across all competitions in each of the last three seasons.”
The last player to manage this was the former Barcelona star.
However, we’d argue that the similarities go beyond this one stat, as, like the Chilean, the 23-year-old fan favourite is capable of changing games all on his own.
For example, even though he missed over three months of action this season, the “legend in the making,” as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has already managed to rack up a simply staggering haul of ten goals and 14 assists in 27 appearances, totalling 1971 minutes.
Appearances
27
Minutes
1971′
Goals
10
Assists
14
Goal Involvements per Match
0.88
Minutes per Goal Involvement
82.12′
That means he’s averaging a goal involvement every 1.12 games or every 82.12 minutes, and if that is not a world-class level of output, we don’t know what is.
Moreover, despite not starting a game since late December, the Gunners’ talisman was unplayable against Real Madrid on Tuesday night and could have easily picked up a couple of assists.
Ultimately, Saka is the first Arsenal winger since Sanchez, who is a bonafide superstar, and the good news is that this time, he looks like he wants to stay and fight for titles in North London.
Fabregas 2.0: Real Madrid make Arsenal's £86m "monster" a priority signing
Losing the “phenomenal” talent would be devastating for Arsenal.
ByJack Salveson Holmes