It's now or never for Alexis Sanchez

“He can play in all three attacking positions, he shows intense defensive skills, he is direct and from what I’ve been told, he’s a very nice kid.” This was Pep Guardiola talking about Alexis Sanchez when Sanchez signed a five-year contract with Barcelona in July 2011.

Fast forward a year, Pep has left the club and Alexis Sanchez is giving his first press conference – “I would give myself a five. I can do more. I accept the criticism, it makes me stronger. This year I want to score goals and continue with the team.” Now, I am pretty sure that he meant five on a scale of ten (I mean, he’s better!).

Alexis Sanchez is the player who has made quite a few Barca supporters scratch their heads throughout this season. In his first season at Barcelona, he was not really subjected to any kind of intense scrutiny as everyone gave him the benefit of doubt during a period considered as an acclimatisation of sorts, given the fact that Barcelona is a team which employs many complex mechanisms behind its cloak of simple passing. Still, he scored 15 goals and supplied 5 assists in 41 appearances for the club and his moment of glory was undoubtedly the equalizer in the first league Clasico when Barca was one goal down, thanks to a classic Victor Valdes brain-fade moment. That was a match in which he was preferred to David Villa and showed some doubters (me included) that he deserved the chance with a supremely clinical finish to put Barca level.

And that still remains my best Alexis Sanchez memory. This season has seen him take a dive into the realms of goal-scoring impotency. Meanwhile, David Villa has made a full recovery from his broken tibia and has done everything in his power (score a lot of goals) to convince Vilanova and his staff that he deserves a place in the starting XI. However, time and again, he was left on the bench due to reasons best known to Tito. I hope he does have a reason because Alexis is simply unable to score goals, even when they are put on a plate for him. And consequently, this inexplicable preference for a goal-shy Alexis to the deadly Villa has led to endless speculation about Villa leaving the club and also Villa staying put at the club.

Now, this is me speculating as to why Alexis is being preferred to Villa. As Pep said, Alexis shows intense defensive skills. He tracks back and does it with an alarming consistency for a forward. Also, goal-scorer or not, he troubles defenders. He has a tremendous burst of speed and can hold the ball well when he has it at his feet, skills which frustrate a defender. His runs make space for others, especially Messi, to run into. Finally, and this is something that we are yet to witness on a frequent basis, he can be deadly when he plays off the last defender trying to break the offside trap due to his pace. If I had a nickel for every time Gerry Armstrong said that on the air!

While a case can be made for Alexis out of these points, the thing that worries me the most is that Barcelona lost two major trophies last season, the League and the Champions League, due to one reason and one reason only – the lack of a serious goal threat other than one Lionel Messi. Mark Messi out of the game, which is no easy task, but mind you, it has been done before and the Barca threat seriously diminishes – especially in games when the opposition is leading and shuts shop. Villa was bought to provide exactly that kind of goalscoring threat and probably so was Alexis.

Alexis is relatively young (age 24) and that is probably another reason why he is being preferred to Villa (age 31). Maybe he is seen as one of the future stars at Barca. But Alexis has to do a little more than pass-the-ball-to-Messi to help Barca win trophies. 24 appearances, 3 goals and 5 assists sums up his current season.

“People haven’t yet seen the best Alexis”. This was Alexis Sanchez giving us some hope at that same press conference. It has been quite a few months after that and we are still waiting, my dear!!