About three years ago, the world was shocked by the appearance of a young footballer who stole the attention at the prestigious European interfaith event, EURO 2016. This footballer named Renato Sanches, a midfielder who helped Portugal win the tournament in France.
Renato Sanches is a player born on August 18, 1997, in Amadora, part of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. His father came from São Tomé and Principe, while his mother was from Cape Verde, but Sanches was a native of Portugal.
His football career began at his hometown club, uiguias da Musguiera in 2005, but he moved to Benfica academy a year later. In Benfica, he was supported to grow and develop, and sure enough, it did happen as Sanches became a talented young player.
Although not an artist or a public official, in the city of Lisbon, when he was a teenager, Sanches was already well-known and became the idol of many people. It’s thanks to football that people admired him.
Since he was young, the midfielder has indeed attracted the attention of many people. As a tribute to this talent, Sanches was included in the Benfica youth team.
Continuing to show an impressive game, Sanches finally managed to climb to Benfica U-19, and also Benfica B in no less than three years. Sanches was given the opportunity in the first team in October 2015. He made his debut against Tondela during the last 15 minutes.
In the next match that took place at Estádio da Luz, Sanches played quite neatly. He had a hard shot at the goal of the Académica Coimbra, an action that seemed to mark his arrival on the arena with style and character.
It was his belief in his own talent that made him successful at a young age. Sanches remains humble even when facing teams like Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich in the Champions League, whose reputation is very good.
Moreover, Sanches reacted calmly when he got racist treatment from some Rio Ave fans. The number of goals and assists did not show much success in his debut season, but Sanches is a phenomenon in itself.
Not just at the club level. Thanks to his amazing performance, Sanches also managed to get a call from the Portuguese National Team. Sanches had defended Portugal ranging from the u-15 to u-19 teams, until finally in March 2016, he got his debut with the senior national team.
Sanches also won the trust to defend Portugal in the European Cup 2016. But before appearing in the European Cup, Sanches signed a contract with Bayern Munich.
For a player, especially when he was young and demanded by a big club like FC Bayern, of course, it was very difficult to refuse. FC Bayern had confidence that Sanches would probably be the next big star.
On the other hand, Sanches was also in great demand by Manchester United. Red devil fans believed Sanches would be the club’s future player. A Portugal player, Nani, evem admitted that his former club would regret if they failed to bring Sanches.
This overreaction is certainly very dangerous for a Renato Sanches since at a young age he has received extraordinary attention from many circles. His move to FC Bayern with a fairly expensive price of 35 million euros, or about Rp 560 billion, would certainly be a burden for young Sanches.
There is no doubt that the European Cup become Sanches’ tournament. Sanches was the youngest Portuguese player selected and started an international competition, and the youngest to score in the knockout system.
During the tournament, Sanches became a byword. At the end of the event, he was chosen as the best young player thanks to his brilliant performances.
People in his country and team-mates praised his mental, physical, stamina and enthusiasm abilities: a quality that has illustrated that Sanches is a great player.
Victory at the European Cup added to Sanches’ glory, confirmed his status as one of the best talents in the world, and forced him to start an adventure in Bavaria with a million hopes. It is difficult for anyone to develop in such circumstances, moreover for a teenager.
His status as a European champion and best young player certainly did not guarantee he would be the first choice at FC Bayern. As a new midfielder, Sanches had to compete with Bayern midfielders at that time like Arturo Vidal, Thiago Alcântara, Javi MartĂnez and Xabi Alonso who were all included in the world-class category.
Besides, Sanches also had to compete with Joshua Kimmich, a player whose original position was left-back but encouraged as a midfielder, Kimmich’s performance was also very good so he often won the trust.
Kimmich was brought in 2015 from Leipzig, his purchase was very reasonable and had a clear goal, which was to replace the role of Philip Lahm. FC Bayern apparently was moved by their hearts when recruiting Sanches. They seem to have no clear purpose.
This Portuguese player had just started his career for three and a half-season since the previous season, and he has no summer vacation either. Expecting Sanches to compete in midfield didn’t make sense and hoping Sanches thrived from the start was stupid.
Sanches started the season with a fairly regular appearance, but as time went by, Sanches was only in the shadow of another midfielder, and in the end, he only completed 90 minutes in the Bundesliga against Darmstadt.
For one full season, Sanches failed to live up the expectations at Bayern Munich. He had trouble getting minutes to play. It was noted that he only played 25 times in all competitions and did not make a goal.
FC Bayern and people claimed that Sanches had failed as he was carried off at a quite expensive price and was expected to develop, yet his performance was slowly decreasing.
Maybe if Sanches came with not so much hope as Kimmich when he was recruited in 2015, he would be able to play calm and show his quality.
Apart from that, Benfica was not able to look after Sanches. Actually, Sanches might still able to develop if he was not in a hurry to move from the club. His move to Bayern Munich was too early.
At a young age, Sanches had to bear a high burden and expectations. When Benfica released Sanches to Germany, Sanches might not be equipped with English or German knowledge. Sanches did not know the two languages and he was not ready for the situation.
After undergoing a bad career in Bavaria, Sanches was loaned to English mediocre club Swansea City for the 2017/18 season. Swansea coach, Paul Clement, hoped his team would be a turning point in Sanches’ career, but again Sanches was not ready to face the challenges in Swansea City.
At the English club, Sanches could not develop because he only appeared 15 times in all competitions. Moreover, he was also often hit by injuries. Sanches returned to Bayern again at the last season, but again, he failed to compete and only appeared 24 times with two notched goals.
During his second period at Bayern Munich, Sanches felt frustrated. He even expressed his unhappiness to the media even though he had previously insisted that he would fight to become successful at FC Bayern.
“I’m not happy here, I work a lot, but I’m not allowed to play,” Sanches said.
“I want to play more, maybe in a different club, I have to worry about that,” he added (Quoted from Goal)
Used to be a potential young player, now his career has experienced a very drastic degradation. At the age of 22 years old, Sanches could still return to the best performance when he was with his new club, Lille.
The changing nature of football can indeed destroy a player’s dreams in a short time, but humans always have hope to be relied on.
Some players experienced rapid ups and downs over 24 months, and so did Sanches. He should not be released to Bayern Munich. His career has been determined by decisions that are not left to him and forced by impatience, both by himself and those around him.
Wishing you a good luck in your new club, Renato Sanches!!!
