River Plate admits they want to hang onto Chilean sensation Alex Sanchez.

The midfielder is on-loan at River from Udinese and the Argentine club's sports director Nolberto Alvarez said: "Yes, we have already started talking with Udinese in order to keep him for as long as possible, but it is very complicated because they want him in July in Italy.

"But we will not stop trying to convince them, there is still time."