text: For any players who have featured for 90 minutes in a match under Pasquale Marino, the next day at training is dedicated to ‘scarico’ — recovery. Try telling that to Alexis Sanchez. Marino was the manager who brought Sanchez into Udinese’s first team in 2008 after he had been signed from Chilean club side Cobreloa two years earlier. Udinese had Italy internationals Antonio di Natale, Simone Pepe and Fabio Quagliarella vying for places up front, but Marino knew in Sanchez he had a ‘jewel’ on his hands. Alexis Sanchez has impressed for Arsenal this season following his £30million switch from Barcelona . Pasquale Marino, pictured managing Pescara in 2013, brought Sanchez into the Udinese first team  in 2008 . The main problem he encountered, however, was that he could not keep Sanchez off the pitch. ‘Alexis could easily play three matches per day,’ Marino, now in charge of Vicenza, said. ‘As soon as the (training) match started, Alexis used to abandon the scarico and would run up to me, almost imploring: “Mister, let me play, just for a few minutes. Please, please, please. I promise I won’t get injured.” Football is an enormous pleasure for him.’ That hunger earned him two £30million moves, first to Barcelona in 2011 and then to Arsenal last summer. It is also why Sanchez, Arsenal’s stand-out player this season, found it so difficult when he was rested for two games by Arsene Wenger — against Aston Villa and Tottenham — with a sore hamstring. Sanchez spent five years with Serie A side Udinese before earning a move to Spanish giants Barcelona . Sanchez takes on  defender Miranda during Chile's friendly with Brazil at the Emirates Stadium last week . ‘Putting him on the bench is like taking a toy from a child,’ Marino warned. ‘There was just one thing that worried me when he joined Barcelona — they were full of amazing forwards and it was by no means a given that Alexis would be in the starting 11. ‘Since I know how important it is for him to play, I feared that without regular football he could become discouraged. But he proved he was good enough to become an essential part of the team and fitted into the Barca way of playing.’ Big money moves have not sapped any of Sanchez’s energy. Speak to Arsenal players and they describe the same enthusiasm in training, the same refusal to embrace rest days, the same disregard for ‘scarico.’ Sanchez found it difficult when he had to be rested for Arsenal's matches with Aston Villa and Tottenham . They warned him that when the games rained down over the winter it would soon catch up with him, but Sanchez, bar that short Wenger-enforced break, has not stopped, even if he hasn’t been as prolific as he was in the first half of the season. That is why Marino believes Sanchez, still only 26, could elevate himself alongside the planet’s greatest. ‘He’s never looked as strong as he does now,’ Marino said. ‘Personally, I think he could score more than 35 goals a season in any league he plays in. ‘If he succeeded in doing that, he would be at the same level as two monsters of the modern game: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Nowadays only those two, and maybe Zlatan Ibrahimovic, can claim to be better than Alexis.’ Marino believes Sanchez is looking strong and capable of scoring 35 goals  in any league he's played in .
target: Alexis Sanchez has starred for Barcelona and Arsenal since Udinese days .
  Former boss Pasquale Marino has tipped the frontman for greatness .
  Marino says benching Sanchez was 'like taking a toy from a child'
  Sanchez could play three games a day, according to Marino .