At least in recent years, it's hard to recall a top-level career like Alexis Sanchez that was so strikingly off track. In January 2018, he had two clubs vying for a heated topic for him, with both Manchester City and Manchester United eager to get a player who had lit up the Premier League at Arsenal. United won, but this is now proving to be an empty victory as he plunges into what seems irreversible at Old Trafford.
The ability is still there, and on a rare occasion, Sanchez has secured the main position, and at the 2019 Copa America, he was one of them, and he led Chile to the semi-finals, ultimately failing to successfully win a three-game winning streak.
The encouragement, and the promise of a new start on loan to Inter under Conte, seems to suggest that the 2019-20 season will bring better luck after an 18-month nightmare at United.
Unfortunately for Alexis, the loan conversion was also unsuccessful. So far, the striker has made as few Serie A starts as he has made in international competitions, largely due to injuries, the partnership between Lukaku and Martinez.
When Alexis showed up, he looked sluggish, slow to run, in poor form and only contributed one goal for Inter, which seemed to have been forgotten in Italy for a while. Even for those who know best the former Barca, Arsenal and Udinese ace, his constant failures are a mystery.
"Sometimes, in the world of football, everything that happens is unexplainable," former Manchester United team-mate Herrera told the media. Alexis was one of them. He is from Arsenal and used to win games for Arsenal alone. ”
"It shows that football sometimes has no explanation. A player, a month ago, two months ago, in a strong team like Arsenal, how could he be the best player? I can't explain. ”
Alexis, 31, was supposed to be in his prime, but between United's woes, Inter's setbacks and coronavirus, he witnessed what should have been his best two years as a professional.
Now, he still has a small role in san Siro, inter milan have effectively withdrawn from the league title race, but he still plays a role in the Coppa Italia – he is likely to play again as a substitute in Saturday's semi-final against Napoli and in the Europa League, and hopes his loan period will continue until at least June 30.
What happens after that remains a mystery. Inter Sporting Director Piero told Sky Sports: "We are very bullish on Sanchez at the end of the season." "It will be a decisive test for him, and we'll walk and see."
Similarly, United will have to decide whether they can sustain the deal, with Inter reportedly paying Alexis around a quarter of his £400,000 weekly salary or looking for another suitor in the market where a striker over 30 years old is overpaid and has been performing badly for two years.
For Alexis, the emergence of Covid-19 is certainly a double setback. The epidemic has affected not only his participation in the 2020 Copa America, but also Chile's matches against Uruguay and Colombia in World Cup qualifiers.
In any case, Alexis rarely disappoints when he wears the red shirt of his birthplace, and those games will be priceless, not only proving that his talent has not declined, but also gaining form and confidence and bringing it to the club's matches.
Now it's the case that he has to settle for the role he played before he was confined: sitting on the bench for long periods of time watching Luca and Lautaro get refreshed, making occasional cameos to see if the game is over, or injecting extra offensive threats late in the game.
At this point, however, Alexis must seize every opportunity, and he must prove that the long slump can be broken; Otherwise, his career in the Premier League is likely to come to an end.