SANCHEZ STAYING AT BARCA

Barcelona winger Alexis Sanchez has said that he will stay at the Spanish club and fight for his place despite increased competition following the arrival of Neymar from Brazilian club Santos.

The 21-year-old is the latest high-profile signing for the Catalan club. He has been signed for a whopping £ 49 million, which makes him the second most expensive player in Barcelona’s history. As a result, he is almost ensured of a starting place in the coming season. This would leave Sanchez fighting a huge battle in order to get into the first-team regular basis.

This coupled with his poor form since his £ 35 million move from Udinese has also not helped matters either. He has been linked with a return to Italian football with the likes of Napoli interested in his services, but he has dismissed any transfer speculation by saying that he wants to stay at Barcelona. The 24-year-old has revealed that his only concentration on the moment is to have a pre-season so as to get good shape going into the new season. Barcelona will be the title favourites after having won the title four times in the last five years.

Real Madrid, though, are expected to be much better this time around with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm.

“The first thing is to have a good pre-season, then fight for a spot in the team every day. I trust in my abilities as a player, the club told me they are counting on me and I will stay to keep helping the team. I don’t care if I play on the wing or in the middle. There is no difference,” said Sanchez. Napoli have been linked with a £ 25 million bid for his services, but the offer is yet to become official as the speculation mounts.