Fernando Bizerra Jr/EPA, via Shutterstock
It was nearly five years ago, in December 2014, when Arsène Wenger, with that concerned, patrician demeanor of his, first voiced in public his fear that Alexis Sánchez was running the risk of burnout.
Sánchez, a forward, had arrived at Arsenal the previous summer, on the back of not only a demanding season for Barcelona but a draining World Cup: Sánchez had shone as the star of Jorge Sampaoli’s all-action Chile team in Brazil.
He had taken to the Premier League quickly, but Wenger, his manager, worried that his competitive streak, his refusal to countenance the idea of a break and a rest, might come to trouble him.