#3 Renato Sanches
2016/17 was supposed to be the season that Renato Sanches really shined. The Portuguese youngster – still only 19 years old – starred for Benfica as they won the Portuguese league in 2015/16 and then went on to represent Portugal at Euro 2016.
Despite some early stutters, Portugal ended up winning the tournament and Sanches was arguably the standout player, scoring a stunning goal against Poland and winning the Young Player of the Tournament award.
He was linked with practically every big club in Europe following these exploits and chose to make a mega-money move to Bayern Munich, the total of which remains somewhat of a mystery. But since his move to the Allianz Arena things haven’t gone to plan at all.
Sanches endured a miserable time in Germany, only starting six league games, and he didn’t register a single goal or assist.
With Sanches’s talent clear based on his performances for Benfica and Portugal, you have to wonder what’s gone wrong. Perhaps it’s a case of new Bayern manager Carlo Ancelotti not rating the youngster – we’ve seen cases in the past before where a club has bought an expensive new signing not necessarily wanted by the manager.
Regardless of the reason, it’s largely a criminal misuse of a player who clearly has a tremendous amount of talent. With Manchester United currently being linked with the Portuguese star, hopefully Sanches can move away from Munich and live up to the promise he initially showed, rather than continue to be misused.
