Alexis Sanchez’s long-anticipated move to Manchester City never really made complete sense. When they were together at Barcelona, the Chilean and Pep Guardiola seemed to view the way football should be played through very different prisms. Sanchez was a cog in Guardiola’s much bigger, Messi-focused machine at Camp Nou, but since being unshackled in the Premier League has underlined his status as one of the most explosive and destructive players in European football.

Guardiola would later admit that he misused Sanchez at Barca, and his more recent desire for a reunion owes much to Sanchez’s tweaked role at Arsenal. ‘I think the position Arsenal are using him as a striker, in front, it is perfect for him,’ said the Catalan last summer. ‘In Barcelona maybe I didn’t help him too much because he played wide. He can do that but he is better between the lines, closer to the goal.’

Sanchez has never felt like an entirely perfect fit for Guardiola’s methodical Manchester City side (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

But it would be naïve to think that simply treating Sanchez as a forward, rather than a winger, would have suddenly made player and manager a perfect fit. Guardiola’s brilliant football is built around structures and patterns of play drilled into the players. Some Bayern Munich players felt they had been turned into robots by Guardiola’s attachment to his philosophy, while Franck Ribery was very vocal about the new sense of freedom he received when Carlo Ancelotti took over.

The same was true of Sanchez at Barca, where he was a slave to the system and frequently left on the bench in favour of Pedro, particularly in the biggest matches. ‘Alexis needs freedom and in Barcelona he had to cover a certain area that was not best for his personal game,’ his old Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli explained several years ago. ‘He had to be part of a philosophy that wasn’t convenient for him.’

Sanchez was in the shadow of Lionel Messi at Barca, while Kevin De Bruyne is City’s main man (Picture: Getty)
Sanchez was in the shadow of Lionel Messi at Barca, while Kevin De Bruyne is City’s main man (Picture: Getty)

Even if Guardiola had used him more centrally at City, the sense that Sanchez is a lone wolf that cannot be caged would have remained. At Arsenal, while he is the club’s most important player, he often feels separate from the rest of his teammates: he presses relentlessly, but on his own terms; he routinely goes for the glory shot when an easy pass is on; and he gives away possession more often than any other player on the pitch.

That last point feels particularly pertinent at City, where control of the ball is so important. They have averaged the most possession and highest passing accuracy of any team in the division – in fact, across Europe’s top five leagues, only PSG rank better. But Sanchez, instinctively and inherently, plays a more boom-or-bust style. Only one player, Watford’s Jose Holebas, has lost the ball more regularly this season. Kevin De Bruyne comes close, but he’s an outlier for City as a whole (losing possession 501 times to next-worst Kyle Walker’s 291).

Had he joined Guardiola, Sanchez would have had to once again conform to the prevailing philosophy, his talons blunted ever-so-slightly. But at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho will give him the free role he really needs, and the game time he craves. At City he would have been rotated, at Old Trafford he will be used relentlessly – which is exactly how he likes it.

It may seem odd to suggest that Mourinho – renowned for parking the bus – is a better manager for an attacker than Guardiola, but his reputation for pragmatism is often a little overstated. The self-proclaimed Special One may devote more training-pitch hours working on the defensive organisation of his team, but he has almost always allowed at least one forward to play completely unshackled.

Cristiano Ronaldo was at his most lethal in Mourinho’s fast-breaking, free-scoring Real Madrid team (Picture: Getty)
Cristiano Ronaldo was at his most lethal in Mourinho’s fast-breaking, free-scoring Real Madrid team (Picture: Getty)

At Chelsea he had Arjen Robben first time around, then Eden Hazard in his second spell, while Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed his most prolific campaign (in which he scored 60 goals) under Mourinho. Speaking about the influence of mentor Bobby Robson on his attacking approach, the Portuguese explained: ‘In attack, I favour more the approach of Bobby, who likes to give freedom to certain players to play their own way, outside the team’s system – those two or three players who on their own can make a difference.’

And that is exactly why United have occasionally struggled this season. Mourinho’s attack is only as good as the players at his disposal; his side’s ability to break down opponents only as effective as the cunning of his forwards. He allows players to act on their instincts and leans towards individual moments of brilliance and spontaneity. It is why, when he is robbed of those moments or players are out of form, it can leave United’s attack looking structure-less and blunt because they have nothing to fall back on.

But it is also a perfect environment for a free spirit like Sanchez. Mourinho’s approach to big matches – of which there will be many to come in the Champions League, a competition Sanchez remains eligible to play in – is undoubtedly reactive and perhaps overly cautious, but it is not totally devoid of chances for players good enough and clinical enough to take them. Sitting so deep gives more space on the break, something Sanchez should thrive in.

United’s attack under Mourinho has long felt like it was missing just one key ingredient, a pedigree, top-of-the-range attacker. The club looked at Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann, but now Sanchez has fallen into their lap. He has been out of sorts this season, but last year only Harry Kane (36) scored or assisted more goals than the Chilean’s 34. He is a bona fide superstar, and Mourinho will give him a platform to shine which was denied to him by Arsenal’s mediocrity, and would have been restricted by Guardiola’s philosophy. Now let the fireworks begin.

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