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Football

02nd Aug 2017

Mayo GAA man puts Alexis Sanchez through wringer on return to Arsenal training

Giving it socks

Patrick McCarry

The Chilean international is back in the Arsenal paddock and he has some catching up to do.

Sanchez started his preseason later than many of his clubmates as he was in Confederations Cup action in Russia over the summer.

Despite rumours linking him to both Manchester clubs and Chelsea, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insists the 28-year-old will not be leaving The Emirates. Indeed, it has been reported elsewhere that Sanchez could see his weekly salary bumped to £320,000.

Sanchez certainly looked to have earned some of his corn on Tuesday as he took part in a gruelling one-on-one training session with Arsenal’s first team strength & conditioning coach Barry Solan.

https://twitter.com/TheAFCReview/status/892398875998396416

Solan is a proud GAA man and has played at club level for his local team, Ballagh.

He worked as an S&C coach with the Mayo senior footballers and kept his own playing career going despite the move east to take up a similar role with Clontarf Rugby.

The 36-year-old has been with Arsenal for the past two seasons and he previously did some S&C work with the Polish national team.

With the majority of the Gunners squad already back in full training and playing preseason games, Solan was able to focus on giving Sanchez his full attention.

The club’s official website has a host of excellent photos from the on-field session but Sanchez certainly looked to be feeling it by the end.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXQaXWfF7QF/?hl=en&taken-by=alexis_officia1

How Mayo – with their extra times and replays – could do with Solan right now.

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