The rags to riches story of Alexis Sanchez will be told in the film bearing his name that is due out shortly. Alexis, The Movie will chart Sanchez’s rise from the streets of Tocopilla in northern Chile to football stardom in Europe’s top leagues.
And, in his case, the riches really are quite extraordinary.
A year ago, Sanchez became the highest earner in the Premier League when he left Arsenal for Manchester United, who chose to announce the signing with a 36-second video clip released on social media of him playing the piano in his new colours.
The terms of the deal were enough to make Manchester City leave the negotiating table after believing they were at the front of the queue to sign Sanchez.
As well as exchanging Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a player valued at £35million, for one who was just five months away from becoming a free agent, United agreed to pay Sanchez up to £25m a year.
In addition to the £6.75m signing-on fee, he was given a basic salary of £20.35m — the equivalent of £391,000 a week.
His image rights and bonus package — which is said to include £75,000 for every match he starts and an extra £2m if he reaches a combined total each season of 40 goals and assists — take his potential earnings to £500,000 a week.
And that’s before you factor in the £10m agent’s fee that finally convinced City to walk away. A year on, they may be rather glad they did.
Sanchez’s four goals in 12 months for United have come at a cost of roughly £6m apiece.
He scored the equaliser in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham at Wembley and a late winner in the 3-2 comeback victory over Newcastle in October — his only goal of the current campaign. Otherwise, highlights from his 32 appearances have been hard to come by.
Jose Mourinho said we would only see the best of Sanchez this season, yet more than half of his Premier League appearances have come off the bench and he has completed 90 minutes only once in all competitions.
Currently working his way back to full fitness after a hamstring injury, Sanchez could make his second start under caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer against his old club Arsenal in the FA Cup on Friday night.
But he faces a battle to win back a regular place amid speculation that he could have left for Paris Saint-Germain this month.
Concerns that Sanchez was regretting his decision to join United surfaced within weeks as he looked miserable around the club’s Carrington training ground and would often eat on his own.
A private person by nature, he still keeps to himself and will mainly mix with the other Spanish speaking players such as David de Gea, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo.
Sanchez moved into Rojo’s old house with his two beloved dogs — Humber and Atom — after initially staying at the Lowry Hotel and was joined by his new girlfriend Mayte Rodriguez, a Chilean actress.
However, in September he revealed that the couple’s relationship was over, typically delivering the news with a video on Instagram.
When Sanchez posted a picture of himself recuperating at home in November, fans were not slow to notice that the three photos visible in his lounge were all of the player posing with his dogs.
It added to the image of a lonely individual and shortly afterwards Sanchez was allowed to spend Christmas in Chile where he has houses in Santiago — built for him and Rodriguez — and Tocopilla, where he can retreat to be with his family and close childhood friends.
A national hero who has campaigned for children’s causes in his homeland, he made a surprise appearance at a children’s home in Penaflor and handed out gifts but otherwise maintained a low profile.
The feeling was that Sanchez needed to clear his head as much as heal the hamstring after a year in which he had struggled to make an impact at United, seen Chile miss out on the World Cup in Russia and broken up with his partner.
It was notable that he returned to Manchester within days of Mourinho’s sacking, posting a video of himself driving through the entrance to United’s training ground to the theme tune from Gladiator, titled Now We Are Free.
Opportunities to impress Solskjaer have been limited, however.
Having aggravated his injury in the FA Cup third-round win over Reading, Sanchez complained of tightness in his hamstring on the last day of the training camp in Dubai and has not played since.
It is a situation he is desperate to change in order to prove himself and justify his huge salary.
Although it will come too late to feature in the movie, Sanchez still hopes there will be a happy ending for him at United.