Alexis Sanchez is overweight, apparently… (Picture: Getty)

Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez has received a surprise grilling from his former Chile Under-20 coach Jose Soluntay, who also laid into Arturo Vidal.

The 28-year-old, who has dominated headlines all summer amid a lengthy transfer saga involving Manchester City, has been branded ‘fat and ‘overweight’ by his former colleague.

Sanchez is regarded as one of the most talented and also one of the fittest footballers playing at the top level in Europe at the moment, and is known to take great care of himself and work hard on extra training during his free time.

Sanchez has been criticised by one of his old coaches (Picture: Getty)

The former Barcelona man can often be seen taking part in extra work-outs via his social media channels, so many will no doubt raise an eyebrow at the suggestion from Soluntay that he’s overweight.

In an explosive blast at Chile’s big-name players, the 77-year-old also singled out Bayern Munich star Vidal, saying he ‘doesn’t look after himself’.

‘A player like him can’t lose his physical condition,’ he said. ‘But he’s come back from holiday with his girlfriend, this is normal life.’

Sanchez’s Chile team-mate Arturo Vidal also received some flak (Picture: Getty)

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Arsenal will certainly be happy to have held on to Sanchez amid fears he could leave this summer, even if he didn’t quite look himself in last week’s defeat to Liverpool.

The Chilean played in the Confederations Cup with his national side earlier in the summer, so missed pre-season with the Gunners and only made his first appearance of the campaign last Sunday.

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