[4] He began his career at River Plate Montevideo before moving to Valenciennes in 2007, where he made 178 Ligue 1 appearances and scored ten goals across six seasons.

Born in Quibdó, Chocó, Sánchez moved to a football school in Medellín and then onto Uruguayan club Danubio, where he signed his first professional contract in 2003 and was a teammate of Edinson Cavani.

In July 2007, Sánchez was bought by a group of investors and was assigned to Rangers de Talca, subsequently moving abroad for the first time in his career, by agreeing to a five-year deal with Ligue 1 side Valenciennes.

[8] On 16 August 2013, Sánchez signed a three-year deal with Spanish side Elche, freshly promoted to La Liga,[9] for a €3.7 million fee.

[14] On 11 April 2015, he was sent off for two yellow cards as the team won 1–0 away to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, causing him to miss their victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final eight days later.

[22] He made his debut four days later in a 1–1 home draw with FC Barcelona in the Derbi barceloní, playing the final four minutes in place of Léo Baptistão.

At the 2011 Copa América, he started three of Colombia's four matches as they reached the quarter-finals, coming into the team at the expense of Gustavo Bolívar after the opening game.

[4] Sánchez was included in Colombia's squad for the 2015 Copa América, where he was credited with "dominating" Neymar during his man of the match performance in the 1–0 group stage defeat of Brazil in Santiago.

He got a red card for stretching his hand to block Shinji Kagawa's shot in the 3rd minute against Japan, denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity and giving away a penalty, which led to a 2–1 win for the Japanese.

[34] Sánchez received death threats for his red card, which were likened by BBC Sport to the assassination of Colombia player Andrés Escobar for his own goal at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.