It’s a summer of reckoning for Arsene Wenger, as he enters the battle to keep his biggest star at the club, with Manchester City lurking dangerously close.
Known to the locals as La esquina de Diablo – Devil’s Corner – Tocopilla is a mining port town of 24,000 people, located in the north of Chile, sandwiched between the Atacama Desert on one side and the South Pacific Ocean on the other. In the middle of the town, just off from a large roundabout, Alexis Sanchez stands with his hands on his hips, absurdly grinning in a full Chile football kit, complete with Nike socks and boots, the Golden Ball from last year’s Copa America at his feet. The statue, which was unveiled in March, is one of several tributes to Tocopilla’s most famous son – including a street name.
It’s telling that Sanchez was only given his first pair of football boots when he was 15 – by the town’s mayor. As a child, Sanchez would play on the street, against older boys from the neighbourhood, barefoot – skipping and hopping to avoid stones – an education which Sanchez claims informs his playing style to this day.