New Bayern star Renato Sanches ready to justify hefty price tag

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  • Sanches is set to star in the Bundesliga next term.

    The final price Bayern Munich will have to pay for Renato Sanches after completing the sensational transfer last week is very much uncertain. The initial sum Benfica will get stands at €35million, while add-ons could make the deal reach as much as €45million – but some of them at least are hardly realistic. For example, an undisclosed sum will have to be paid if the midfielder wins the Ballon d’Or.

    One thing is crystal clear, however – Benfica made a remarkable profit given the original investment they made ten years ago. Believe it or not, the nine-year-old Renato was acquired from the tiny Aguias de Musgueira for 25 footballs. Incredibly, even that tiny “fee” wasn’t paid until last Friday, according to Aguias president Antonio Quadros. He is not angry, though. Watching the child he nurtured rapidly becoming a world class star is a great feeling. “It is worth more than all the money in the world,” Quadros said in an interview with Diario de Noticias.

    The work Quadros put into Sanches should be rewarded with much more than 25 footballs. Musguiera is arguably the toughest and less secure district of Lisbon, and growing up there made Renato extremely competitive, but also hard to handle. Discipline and strict rules were not for him, and soon after joining Aguias he decided to leave. It took long hours of persuasion to make him stay, but Quadros knew that the kid had enormous potential and did everything in his power to keep him in the game.

    Benfica didn’t need a long time to be convinced when giving him a trial. After scouts noticed Sanches, it took them just 15 minutes to decide that the youngster must join their academy. And yet, Renato wasn’t too delighted. Musgueira is on the northern bank of the Tagus River, while Benfica’s training grounds are in Seixal, the southern part of Lisbon. The kid didn’t fancy taking long daily trips and preferred to stay close to his family and friends. Once again it was Quadros who changed his mind, explaining what an extraordinary opportunity he was about to throw away.

    Benfica never had any doubts about Renato’s abilities, but his attitude was at times more than problematic. As the under-16 team coach Renato Paiva told Expresso recently, Sanches was strong, technically skilled, but wild – a typical street footballer. “Nothing but himself and the ball existed for him. He wanted to take everything on his shoulders and was lacking the basics of team play. Our job was to make him understand the tactical aspects of the game, and we had to work a lot on that.”

    Listening to coaches proved to be quite difficult for Sanches. A hilarious example of that occurred when the youth team of Benfica faced an English team at the Milk Cup in Ireland. Knowing that the opposition is stronger in the air, Paiva instructed his proteges to play short corners rather than send high balls into the penalty area. To his astonishment, he heard Renato telling his teammates immediately afterwards: “Never mind the short corners. We must cross the ball in order to score.” The mentor had to take his most talented protege aside and ask: “Do you want to be a player or a coach?”

    Eventually, it was easy to see significant progress, and Benfica decided that the 18-year-old was ready for the big step towards the end of 2015. The situation at the club was quite gloomy in those days. Veteran coach Jorge Jesus sensationally left for fierce city rivals Sporting Lisbon in the summer. His replacement, Rui Vitoria, was not popular with the fans to put it mildly, and the results were hugely disappointing. Benfica lost three times in their first seven league games, including the 3-0 home thrashing at the hands of Sporting. Some fans had already lost hope of retaining the title. It is quite phenomenal that it was Renato who helped to change the momentum and put the season back on track.

    On his full league debut, he dominated the midfield in a tough away fixture at Braga, and Benfica won 2-0. A week later, the home fans at the Stadium of Light were ecstatic when the youngster scored an absolute screamer from over 30 yards in the 3-0 win over Academica. His second goal for the club was even more important – the winner at Guimaraes, Vitoria’s former club.

    Suddenly, a star was born, and Benfica fans fell in love with the energetic midfielder. With Sanches in the starting line-up, the Eagles won 20 out of 22 league games, and only required a draw at home to Nacional on the last match day to retain the championship title. Renato was also very instrumental in beating Zenit in the Champions League and impressed against Bayern Munich in the quarter finals – so much so that the Germans made him one of their top transfer targets, and completed the deal when the Portuguese seemed to be on his way to Manchester United.

    That doesn’t mean that Sanches is the complete player already. Far from it. Powerful and fearless, with great leadership qualities, Renato is everywhere on the pitch, making tackles in defence and difficult to dispossess after winning the ball. However, he is still very inexperienced, and his willingness to bring the ball forward as fast as possible leads to a high percentage of mistakes. His tactical awareness is still not perfect, and he is known to commit needless fouls. In fact, two days before signing for Bayern, he was sent off for the first time after conceding a very unnecessary second yellow card.

    Sanches is a true box-to-box midfielder, and thus will have to compete with Arturo Vidal for the spot in Carlo Ancelotti’s midfield next term. His style is quite similar to that of the Chilean star, and Vidal was also rather “wild” in his young days, before coming of age and growing into one of the best midfielders in the world. He will be a great teacher to Renato, and Ancelotti could be the best coach for him – soft but strict. The Italian will notice glimpses of Gennaro Gattuso in Sanches, and he knows how to tame “street footballers”.

    The potential is obvious, but the expectations might be a bit too high, given the great hype and the huge transfer fee. It remains to be seen whether Renato is able to continue his development at the current rate. In the meantime, Aguias de Musgueira president is content with his 25 footballs.

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