Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola believes Alexis Sanchez is fulfilling his potential as a striker for Arsenal after playing second fiddle to Lionel Messi at Barcelona.
Guardiola signed Sanchez for Barca from Udinese in 2011, but the £30million Chile forward struggled to become a Camp Nou regular and moved to Arsenal three years later.
Sanchez has thrived since being deployed as a lone striker by Arsene Wenger this season, scoring 12 Premier League goals and assisting five more ahead of Arsenal's visit to Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The 27-year-old has 18 months left on his contract and Standard Sport understands Sanchez is seeking pay parity with the Premier League's top earners to stay at Emirates Stadium.
Guardiola has denied City have approached Sanchez regarding a transfer, but says the forward is now "perfect" in his new position.
"Alexis has played in Chile and in Italy with Udinese and played really well in Barcelona," City's official site quotes Guardiola as saying.
"It is normal when you play with [Lionel] Messi that people think that he is not at his level, as the highlight is always Leo.
"But Alexis helped us a lot and played well. I think the position that he is in now, as a striker, is perfect for him, it suits him perfectly.
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"In Barcelona maybe I didn’t help him too much as I like the wingers wide, and he can do that but he plays more between the lines closer to the goal.
"Some of the moments when he played as a striker, especially one game against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final when we lost in London 1-0, he played as a striker in the second leg and we went 2-0 up.
"It was an unlucky game, we lost and Chelsea arrived in the final. He played there, so he is a player that can play in several positions: left, right, central. He is a fighter with character and spirit, and he is a winner.
"He is a class, class player but now I think he is playing really well. With Chile he has won two South American cups, that shows what a good player he is."
