The time Alexis Sanchez ran 8km home after training

The Italian side from the City of Udine were Sanchez's first club in Europe and in many ways the start of his rise to the top of the footballing pyramid.

Speaking to Manchester United's official website, Italian journalist Pietro Oleotto has opened up about an intriguing story from Sanchez's time at the Stadio Friuli.

"Once, after training, Alexis drove into Udine to do some shopping," Oleotto recalled. "But he accidentally locked his keys and mobile phone in his car.

"I'm not sure what most people would have done, but he just ran home. He jogged the eight kilometres from the heart of the city to his house in the hills. Bemused locals saw him in his club tracksuit running and called us at the paper. It was typical of Alexis to turn the situation into an improvised cross-country run"

Meanwhile, Oleotto also said that Sanchez's chiseled phisique wasn't always his defining characteristic, saying: "In his first season, he [Alexis] was skinny and stayed on the right wing a lot. The physicality in the penalty area was too much for him. But the team needed him more central, closer to the goal, to make the most of his dribbling.

"So he began improving his body and they built him an ad-hoc gym. He worked out for two hours a day after training. I remember seeing him halfway through pre-season training camp and being shocked by how much muscle he had put on."