Reports: Barcelona make an official bid for Bayern Munich superstar
What’s the story?
Barcelona have apparently submitted an official bid to Bayern Munich for Renato Sanches according to reports in Spain. The bid, rumoured to be around the €30 million mark, around €5 million less than what Bayern Munich played to Benfica to bring the 19-year-old to Germany.
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The move is said to be instigated by his agent Jorge Mendes, who has offered him to Barcelona and apparently convinced the Catalan side to bid for the Golden Boy of 2016.
In case you didn’t know..
Renato Sanches was undoubtedly one of the best young players in Europe during his breakthrough at Benfica. He was touted by Europe’s top clubs, like Manchester United, but he eventually moved to recently crowned Bundesliga champions.
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His season at Bayern has been a difficult one, given he has not had the game time he would have expected when he made the move to Germany. However, his manager Carlo Ancelotti has recently said, “Renato will unquestionably 100 percent be here next season. We won't sell nor send him out on loan”.
The heart of the matter
Undoubtedly still one of the most talented players in Europe, at 19-years he needs regular game time to develop his talent. At a club like Bayern Munich, his game time will definitely be limited given the talent in their ranks.
If he moves to Barcelona, his situation won’t be very different. Although they have an aging midfield, he will need to consistently prove himself to be a regular in the first team.
What’s Next?
It seems very suspicious that Bayern will be selling the Golden Boy of 2016, however, when you look into the deal for the Portuguese international it does make some sense from a financial point of view. The youngster has clauses in his contract which will see Benfica earn a lot more money given he plays a certain number of games this season or future seasons at Bayern.
On the other hand, if they do sell the youngster, they will make a loss of around €5 million, and that is about it. A decent deal, but is it worth losing a potential future Ballon d’Or winner to a rival club?
Author’s Take
The deal seems a difficult one on the surface, but there are a lot of signings each window which go through despite those conditions. For Barcelona and their fans, this would be a very very good signing.