Barcelona legend Puyol wants Alexis Sanchez to return to the Catalan giants.
Alexis Sanchez has been tipped to return to Barcelona by club legend and former defender Carles Puyol. The Chilean attacker spent three years with the La Liga club before joining Arsenal in the Premier League.
Sanchez quickly became a fan favourite at Arsenal but as things turned out, he was shipped out to Manchester United, where he spent one-and-a-half uninspiring seasons before he was loaned out to Inter Milan, who then signed him permanently on a free transfer.
The 33-year-old hasn’t been able to recapture the form he showed with Arsenal at Inter despite being among the most handsomely paid players in the league. In 108 appearances for the Serie A giants, Alexis has scored 20 and assisted 23 goals.
With just a year remaining on his contract, and Inter eager to let him go, he has been linked with a return to Barcelona. The winger has got a seal of approval from one of the Blaugrana’s biggest club legends in Puyol, who termed Alexis as one of the most talented players he has played with.
“It doesn’t depend on me, but I would like Alexis to have the opportunity to play for Barcelona again,” Puyol said as per SPORT.
“He is one of the most talented players I have ever played with, apart from being very professional. Things in these teams where there is so much competition are never easy. But with work and discipline I am convinced that he can give a great performance at the club that it represents. I wish him the best and for me the best team is Barcelona, so that’s the answer.”
Alexis was offered to Barcelona in the ongoing summer window but the club seemingly turned down the opportunity to sign him as they have added Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski in the attacking department and have also re-signed Ousmane Dembele.
The Nerazzurri are so desperate to part ways with Alexis that they reportedly offered him €4 million to terminate his contract, but the Chilean international did not accept the offer.