Just over a year ago he was ready. Bags packed. Transfer demand in. Alexis Sanchez was on the move. Where he was wanted. Wanted by a manager who'd won all this industry could offer. To Manchester...
Oh, but not to the Red half. Not to join Jose Mourinho. No. It was the Sky Blues. Manchester City. Alexis was wanted by Pep Guardiola, Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano. The Arsenal striker was to be the finishing touch to their squad building. A player to fire Guardiola to a first title in England - and a third overall Champions League crown.
Of course, the rest is history. Agent Fernando Felicevich set his price. Alexis approved. And when Soriano, City's GM, pulled back, in stepped his counterpart at Manchester United, Ed Woodward, with a wheelbarrow of cash to ferry the Chilean away.
And that's what those in Alexis' corner are clinging onto. Forget his record wages. The stories of aloofness. Of an unwillingness to mix. To socialise. A year ago, Alexis was a player wanted by a management team that has put together perhaps the best squad on the planet. Football directors Soriano and Txiki, in agreement with Guardiola, saw in Alexis a player to take last season's team to the next level. They'd done their homework. They knew the Chilean from their time at Barcelona. They knew what he offered on the pitch. And his character off it. And nothing put them off their pursuit - until those wage demands were relayed by Felicevich.
So how could they get it so wrong? How could they have misjudged a player so spectacularly? The simple answer is, they didn't. A year on and that talent is still there. The talent Guardiola was so eager to work with. And even more significantly, the character he had no problem with introducing to City's carefully constructed dressing room.
And along with those close to the Chilean, this is what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is also hanging onto. The United manager saying as much ahead of tonight's FA Cup clinker at Chelsea.
“If he could just get that goal, I'm sure that would release his confidence," says the Norwegian. “That's what it's about, when you go through periods when you don't perform up to your standard, because we know there's a very, very good player there."
Just as he did in the previous round at Arsenal, Solskjaer will start Alexis tonight. There's just no way the manager would devote so much of his media conference talking up his No7 without there being a clear motive. Attacking rival Romelu Lukaku was barely mentioned. Monday night will be about Alexis.
Indeed, even the BBC have caught wind and are previewing the tie with an extended interview involving the Chilean and teammate Ander Herrera.
"We all know what he is capable of, and he's going to do it, so you will see it soon," says Herrera. "I think he should be very calm, because he has everything to be a top player in this club and he will be."
The goodwill is there. From teammates. From management. There's nothing working against the player. Even the TV coverage tonight will be positive.
And again, in typical fashion, his manager has told Alexis to get his head up and look forward. Solskjaer raised eyebrows - and made headlines - when describing Alexis as a "young boy". But the message was clear. There's so much more this player is capable of. That he can achieve. Even now on the wrong side of 30, there's no reason - no matter the cynics - to consider his best days are behind him.
“He's still a young boy. He's 30, but can still play for many, many years," said the manager, before throwing down his Monday night challenge.
"He's very talented, but of course there's only so many things you can sit down and talk about and tweak."
And there it is. The manager - just as Sir Alex Ferguson did with him - sending Alexis a clear message through the press: the time for chat is over. You have my confidence. You have a system ("tweaks") that suits your strengths. Now go out and show me what you can do.
Better yet, show Pep, Txiki and Soriano what you can do. Prove that they were right all along. No player loses what City's powerbrokers were willing to back in just a year.
As Solskjaer says, "there's a very, very good player there". Both he and Guardiola can't be wrong.
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