4 Bayern Munich – Renato Sanches
For a player who is hailed the successor to Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal’s side, Renato Sanches might spend a surprising amount of time on the bench in the 2016/17 season. Bayern splashed out €35 million on the 18-year-old before Euro 2016, and given his perfomances for Portugal in the summer tournament, the Bavarians were shrewd in getting the business done early.
Sanches can play as an attacking midfielder or the box-to-box role, but since Bayern’s system under Pep Guardiola did not have a strict attacking midfielder, but rather a support striker in Thomas Muller, new manager Carlo Ancelotti might have to switch systems to fully harness Sanches’ skills.
The Italian has already proclaimed that he will not change Guardiola’s system much, which will mean that Sanches’ best chance of playing will be in the box-to-box role. A position that has Arturo Vidal, Thiago Alcantara and David Alaba in front of him, not to mention Xabi Alonso in the centre as well. A rather tough ask for a precocious teenager.