Sanchez is no Neymar or Suarez and that's why he's at Arsenal

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Sanchez is no Neymar or Suarez and that's why he's at Arsenal - Alexis Sanchez was an experiment that didn't quite come off at Barcelona. The Chile winger was signed by Pep Guardiola from Udinese in 2011 as the Catalan coach sought a more direct approach for his fourth season at Camp Nou. In three years at the club, however, it never really happened.

Guardiola's great side struggled to match their breath-taking best in 2011-12, which would ultimately be the former club captain's last season there as coach. In it, Barca won four trophies, but missed out on La Liga and the Champions League.

Alexis was supposed to give Barca a new dimension. However, he took time to adapt and was in and out of the side in that debut campaign. At Udinese, he had attacked from deep, exploiting spaces and running at defenders. With Barca pressing high up the pitch, such spaces were few and far between.

Incredibly shy, Sanchez looked lost at times and although there were moments of brilliance, he wasn't quite the right fit and his second season brought only 11 goals in 46 games.

It was in his third campaign at Camp Nou when he impressed the most as he appeared to enjoy working with a South American coach (Argentine Gerardo Martino). In it, he hit a wonderful winner against Real Madrid in a Clasico clash at Camp Nou, when he beat Diego Lopez with a lovely lob. There was also a special strike in the Liga decider against Atletico on the last day of the season, too.

But it was too little, too late. Atleti equalised to take the title and Alexis trudged off the pitch disconsolately. He would never be seen in a Barcelona shirt again.

That summer, Luis Enrique came in as coach and both Alexis and Cesc Fabregas were sold to raise funds for the purchase of Luis Suarez from Liverpool.

Many Barca fans were sad to see Sanchez depart and wondered whether Suarez (banned for four months for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup), would prove problematic alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Quite the opposite. The Uruguay striker adapted brilliantly and has gone on to make up the game's most feared forward line with Messi and Neymar. The 'MSN' moniker was born with Suarez, not Sanchez - and the former Liverpool striker is much more suited to the Catalan club than Alexis ever was.

The Chilean is still a special player, of course, and helped his nation to the Copa America earlier in 2015, hitting the winning penalty as the hosts edged out Argentina in the final to claim the first piece of silverware in their entire history.

"With Chile, Alexis knows he is a decisive player," Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli had said at the World Cup a year earlier. "He is very highly thought of - a superlative player. Perhaps at Barcelona, with the team-mates he has and all the great players there, it is more difficult. But for me he has all the conditions to be one of the best players in the world: assists, goals, dribbles, everything!"

At Arsenal, he is thriving. Better suited to the more direct style and open spaces in the Premier League, he is one of the stars of the English league and will be key to the Gunners' hopes of troubling Barcelona when the two teams meet in the last 16 of the Champions League next year.

"He is so important for us because he creates chances and scores goals," Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said in September. And he added: "He is world class. Overall he is a striker who is mobile and works hard for the team and when the team plays well he can score goals."

Arsenal, of course, also attempted to sign Suarez from Liverpool by triggering the player's release clause, but the Uruguayan was set for bigger and better things - and he is now rightly considered one of the world's finest forwards.

Alexis is a world-class player as well, but he was never quite suited to Barca's style of play and he remains a notch below both Suarez and Neymar.

In the end, the transfer has helped both player and club. Barca are a superior side without Sanchez - and Alexis is a better player at Arsenal. So even if the Chilean were to knock his former side out of the Champions League when the two teams meet next spring, the Catalans are unlikely to regret the decision to sell him and sign Suarez as his replacement.