“I was born to play football,” said Sergio Aguero in his autobiography, Born To Rise. Coming from a lesser player, it might have appeared an arrogant statement, perhaps even a delusional boast. As Aguero was so precocious that he took Diego Maradona’s record as the youngest player to ever appear in Argentina’s top flight, it seemed a fair assessment of his destiny.
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Alexis Sanchez, meanwhile, was born to play English football. At least, that was the verdict of Arsenal teammate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who felt a boy from the verge of the Atacama Desert was naturally equipped for the high-tempo approach of the Premier League.
“Alexis has come to England and he’s more English than anyone I’ve ever seen in the way he plays and in his approach,” he told national newspapers.
Manchester City against Arsenal is a clash of prolific South Americans, of natural footballers with an infectious enthusiasm for the game. Aguero is the smiling assassin, Sanchez the eager example to his teammates.
Their excellence has put one man in an awkward position. Manuel Pellegrini has a foot in both camps. He is Aguero’s manager and regular champion, often arguing the Argentine is among the best players in the world and ranking behind only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the global pecking order.
Yet it was his fellow Chilean Sanchez he was discussing when he said: “I am happy for him because at this time he is the best player in English football.” The use of the words “at this time” are the technicality, the caveat, the escape clause. Aguero has not begun a game since suffering a knee injury against Everton in early December.
He should return to the starting 11 on Sunday whereas Sanchez has starred in Aguero’s absence. He achieved a hat-trick of sorts against Stoke City last week. Having provided Arsenal’s first goal, headed in by Laurent Koscielny, he scored the next two.
He has 18 goals this season, Aguero 19. City against Arsenal could come down to the South American sharpshooters.
While Sanchez converted the highest percentage of chances in La Liga last season, Aguero is the deadlier. He famously boasts the best minutes-per-goal ratio in Premier League history. His record this season is better than his career average, with one every 77 minutes on the pitch.
Yet Sanchez’s return of one every 140 is extraordinary. He is not an out-and-out striker, but a player who has started on either wing and as a No. 10. He has chipped in with twice as many assists as Aguero this season. No one has contributed to more Premier League goals this season and his task is harder. He is playing in an inferior side.
So it is tempting to recall the suggestions that they could have been teammates. When Sanchez was leaving Barcelona, there were rumours that he could be bound for the Etihad Stadium. City quickly quashed them.
Financial Fair Play punishments meant they had spending restrictions. The composition of the squad – and with Alvaro Negredo still at the Etihad Stadium, they had four strikers then – ensured Pellegrini had other priorities. They left Arsenal and Liverpool to fight it out for Sanchez’s services, a squabble the Londoners won.
It is a sign of his impact at the Emirates Stadium that even Arsenal’s greatest ever player, a man known for his languid brilliance, is excited. Thierry Henry said he deemed Sanchez Arsenal’s best signing in the last six years.
“A brilliant player,” said the club’s record goalscorer. “Arsenal were looking for a player that can deliver on a daily basis and they have found one.”
Indeed, no one is delivering more often. Sanchez has shouldered the greatest burden of all, having played more minutes in all competitions than any other player from Europe’s top five leagues this season.
Aguero’s increasingly fragile frame means he has a lesser workload. Yet the common denominators outweigh the differences.
They are defined by speed, sharpness and an eye for an opening. They illustrate that the best South American players have that rare combination of technical and physical gifts to prepare them for the Premier League. And they both scored when City and Arsenal last met.
There would be no surprise if a reunion brought a repeat.
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