Alexis Sanchez is 'fatter than normal', blasts his former coach as Arsenal star struggles in Chile defeats
- Alexis Sanchez slammed by former Chile youth coach for being out of shape
- Arsenal man struggled as Chile lost World Cup qualifiers to Paraguay and Bolivia
- It leaves them facing an uphill struggle to qualify for the finals in Russia
- Sulantay described Sanchez as 'fatter than normal' and 'out of physical shape'
Alexis Sanchez has been blasted by Chile's former Under-20 coach Jose Sulantay, who claims the Arsenal star is 'fatter than normal' and 'totally out of physical shape.'
The forward's miserable start to the season continued when Chile were beaten 3-0 by Paraguay in last Thursday's World Cup qualifier and things went from bad to worse this week with a 1-0 loss in Bolivia.
It leaves Chile playing catch-up in the race to reach Russia - they currently sit in sixth, out of the qualification places and a point behind Argentina with two matches left.
Alexis Sanchez struggles during Chile's World Cup qualifying defeat by Bolivia on Tuesday
The Arsenal forward has been accused of being out of shape by a former Chile youth coach
And Sultanay, who now manages Chilean second division side Cobreloa, certainly didn't hold back in his appraisal of Sanchez's lacklustre performances.
He told newspaper La Cuarta: 'I saw him gone, I saw him out of physical shape, totally. He's fatter than normal.
'Without his spark, he never left that Paraguayan defence behind. He never made a diagonal run, it was something else. It was not Alexis.
'This can bring you problems later, the statements of wanting to leave. The team-mates must have felt nothing for him.'
Sanchez was keen to leave Arsenal for Manchester City but a deadline-day move didn't happen
Chile could miss out on the World Cup after defeats by Paraguay and Bolivia left them sixth
Sanchez crouches down on the pitch at the final whistle of a damaging defeat in La Paz
Sanchez spent the hours before the Paraguay game on standby for a medical, but a £60million move to Manchester City fell through after Arsenal failed in their pursuit of Monaco's Thomas Lemar and PSG's Julian Draxler.
The 28-year-old has played just once for Arsenal this season, in the calamitous 4-0 Premier League loss at Liverpool.
He is stuck at the Emirates until at least January, with his contract set to expire next summer.
Arsenal are at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.
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