As the race for Alexis Sanchez enters another furlong, it has emerged Manchester City are set to pip Barcelona to the forward’s signature.

The Chile international is one of Europe’s hottest properties thanks, largely, to a successful season at Udinese, although having secured the prospect of Champions League football next term, the Italian club may want to hang onto their attacking asset.

The 22-year-old is thought to be valued around £27million and his campaign at Udinese has shown signs he could provide an addition threat to sides who are also gunning for Champions League glory next season.

Sanches’s stats were impressive alongside the veteran Antonio Di Natale in Udinese’s 3-5-2 system. For the majority of his term, the Chilean was partnered alongside the Italian and netted 12 goals in 31 appearances, and provided six assists.

Sanchez was influential when given the ball, as shown with his average of three dribbles per game, which drew an average of 3.7 fouls in each outing, and 1.61 key passes per match. The forward’s WhoScored.com rating was 7.51, second behind Di Natale, while he also scooped five man of the match awards.

The stats, however, are not completely kind to the forward, as his passing accuracy is 75%, which would have made him the worst at Manchester City aside from Edin Dzeko, although the Bosnian made just 15 league appearances since arriving in January. The Chile international was also dispossessed on average 5.3 times per match – a significantly higher number than any other Serie A player from AC Milan, Inter and Lazio.

Due to City’s abundance of strikers, and Sanchez’s penchant for dribbling, the Udinese man is likely to be given a starting berth on the flank by Roberto Mancini, in a similar role to David Silva.

The Spaniard enjoyed a talismanic inaugural term in the Premier League and his 35 appearances reaped four goals and seven assists.

Silva was more influential than Sanchez in his distribution, as he recorded an average key pass count of 2.09 per game, accompanied by an accuracy of 87%. The winger’s average dispossessed count also sat far lower than the Chilean at 1.6.

On the ball, Silva’s success a dribbling was far lower than Sanchez, while the Spain international drew an average of 0.7 fouls per game. The Eastlands man was given a whoscored.com rating of 7.12 for his league performances last term, whilst scooping three man of the match awards.

Both Silva and Sanchez would offer Mancini something different next season on either wing. The Chilean would benefit from bringing his distribution to the level of the Spaniard, but the duo’s potential combination would be a potent force in Europe.