There have been a few young players who have caught the eye at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Mesut Ozil has so far been the most promising, but Chile winger Alexis Sanchez impressed in his opening game against Honduras and is allegedly on Manchester United’s radar.

The 21-year-old is known in his homeland as ‘El Niño Maravilla’ (the wonder boy), but has been dubbed ‘the next Cristiano Ronaldo’ by the European press and after viewing him you can understand why he reminds people of the former Manchester United winger.

Sanchez’s style is easy on the eye as he likes the odd step over, trick, flick and has the confidence to run at opposition defenders. But like a young Ronaldo he’s talent is still quite raw and his end product could do with some work. There is a glaring difference between the two players though as Sanchez is only around 5 ft 7” tall, whereas the Portuguese winker is over six foot and is more than adept in the air.

Because of his small stature many may argue that he could struggle with the physical nature of the Premier League.

Judging by his performances the diminutive Chilean certainly has confidence in his own ability and is also ambitious as he has hinted that he’d be willing to make a big move to the Premier League or La Liga:

“My agent has told me that a lot of big clubs have asked about me. I’m still focused on Udinese, but I have personal ambitions this summer and England and Spain are sensational leagues.”

The player has a good record at international level scoring 11 goals in his 30 caps at senior level for Chile. Over this last season he contributed 5 goals in 25 starts and made 3 assists for Serie A club Udinese.

I’m sure he is a player who would grab the interests of the Red Devils’ fans and may welcome such a player to Old Trafford, but with Antonio Valencia making an impressive debut season in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side and Nani improving since the departure of Ronaldo fans may not feel they need to strengthen in the wide areas.

Manchester United fans may also argue that they have enough depth should they suffer injuries as Ji Sung Park and Ryan Giggs (although his role has changed during his latter years) can play down the flanks.

But there is also the argument that if Sir Alex managed to successfully harness the raw talent of Ronaldo and help him become one of the best players in world football then who’s to say Sanchez cannot thrive in the Premier League for Manchester United.

Earlier in the month Udinese had rejected €10 million from Roma for the player, so if he continues to impress at this summer’s World Cup then you’d think that the Serie A club won’t sell him for any less than £16-20 million.

What do the Manchester United think about the latest promising young player they have been linked with? Is there any reason why Sanchez cannot become the next cult hero at Old Trafford?

A video of Alexis Sanchez in action:

[youtube 2eIHcLQsbUw&feature=fvst]

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