A potentially sensational story has emerged as Arsenal and Manchester City are apparently ready to make one of the biggest swaps in history of football.
They aren’t, of course, but let’s pretend they are…
Intro
Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero are both world class players who have led their teams to victory on more than one occasion and the chance of a swap looks like it would be beneficial for both sides, but would it really?
Sanchez and Aguero don’t exactly play in the same position but both are well known for their ability in front of goal and in this comparison we’ll focus on their statistics rather than the impression they leave on the pitch.
Coming up, a comparison between Alexis and Aguero in attack, possession and creativity, defensive contribution, and a final verdict on who would get the better deal.
First up, attack…
Attack
Since the day he arrived at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has expressed a desire to replace Aguero as his first choice striker and the Argentinian doesn’t seem to fit his idea of how City should play.
Aguero kept his head down, got his chance and went on to, once again, become the club’s top goalscorer (33 goals – 106 minutes per-goal) leaving their second best scorer, Raheem Sterling, far behind with 23 goals fewer.
Alexis Sanchez, on the other hand, played in multiple positions last season, and was Arsene Wenger’s first choice as striker in multiple games, ending the season with 30 goals (141 minutes per-goal).
The shot accuracy of both players is similar – Aguero 52% – Sanchez 58% but the Argentinian takes more shots at goal (4.48) than the Chilean (3.37) and has a slightly better record for scoring goals per-game with 0.65 goals compared to Sanchez’s 0.63, a margin so small that it should be considered irrelevant.
Possession and creativity
Sergio is a much better passer than Alexis with 82% successful passes compared to 73%, but, on the other hand, Aguero only makes 24.84 passes per-game, a significantly lower number than Sanchez and his 43.18 passes per-game.
In the terms of creativity, Alexis is roughly twice as good as Aguero. The Chilean creates around 2.05 chances per game and makes 1.79 key passes while the Argentinian only makes one chance and 0.9 key passes per game.
The numbers are obviously influenced by the positions they both play in but the impact these numbers have on their teammates are very significant.
Aguero ended his season with six assists while Sanchez made 19.
When the numbers are added up, we get a total of 49 goals that Alexis Sanchez played a direct role in to Sergio Aguero’s 39.
These numbers are impressive just by themselves but it’s worth noting that Alexis Sanchez, even in his more “conservative” role of left winger, made a much greater impact on the success of his team than Aguero did.
Defensive contribution
Although this part of the comparison doesn’t really influence the true value of both players to their respective teams, Alexis Sanchez does make much more of a contribution in order to help his team win the ball back, a direct link to the position he plays in.
Because Aguero is a natural striker, his position and the manager don’t demand him to drop deep to help defend but rather wait around the halfway line to take opposition on the break. His defensive contribution is minimal.
Verdict
In an overall comparison, Alexis Sanchez has the better statistics and has been of more significance to Arsenal than Aguero has been for Manchester City, and the Chilean’s influence and work rate on the pitch make his teammates work harder.
Aguero has the aura of a ruthless striker who will terrorise opposition and score a goal when he get’s even the slightest of chances but Sanchez showed last season that he is just as ruthless and deadly as Aguero.
Winner: Alexis Sanchez
So Arsenal would be mad to swap, right? Read on…
Opinion
Arsene Wenger is on the market for a world class striker and there have already been numerous reports linking him to strikers all over Europe.
The solution to his problem has maybe been in Premier League all along.
Sergio Aguero is definitely the kind of player Arsene Wenger would like to sign in order to help his side challenge for the league title once again. The only problem is, is he ready to give his best player to one of his rivals…again?
Pep Guardiola isn’t fond of Sergio Aguero and the Manchester City boss holds a great interest in signing Alexis Sanchez. He would probably take the offer without putting much thought in to it.
With Alexis Sanchez going into his final year of his contract and constantly prolonging the negotiations, Manchester City could get him for free in 12 months time.
If the rumours are true, Arsene Wenger should go for the swap. There aren’t many better strikers than Aguero and there aren’t many better wingers than Alexis, yet Arsenal can survive without their best player if they invest in an equally good replacement.