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Exciting Renato Sanches in Exalted Company Among Bayern Munich’s Youth Signings
- Updated: September 6, 2016
After arriving at Bayern Munich from Benfica in the summer transfer window for a reported €35 million, there is, perhaps unsurprisingly, significant excitement surrounding Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches.
The 19-year-old became the youngest winner of a UEFA European Championship when he helped Portugal to the title in France in July at the age of 18 years, 10 months and 23 days.
Xabi Alonso may be a FIFA World Cup winner with Spain, but the 34-year-old—16 years Sanches’ senior—is nonetheless impressed with his new Bayern team-mate.
“He has so much power, so much energy,” Alonso told ESPN FC. “He’s hungry to win things, to improve and I’m looking forward to working with him and to be able to share the midfield and to play together.”
High praise, indeed, but where might Sanches rank among Bayern’s all-time signings aged 21 or less? He is certainly the most expensive, but will he prove to be the best?
Just last season, Bayern picked up a pair of young players who went on to become key components in the champions’ team—and in double-quick time, too.
French winger Kingsley Coman arrived on loan from Juventus, with Joshua Kimmich joining from RB Leipzig. Aged 19 and 20, respectively, at the time, neither could have predicted the 2015-16 season they would have under Pep Guardiola.
Coman may have arrived at the Allianz Arena with league titles in France and Italy—as well as the league-and-cup double with Juve in 2014-15—under his belt, but it was nonetheless injuries to Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery that afforded him playing time out wide.
The France international seized his chance, and he ended the campaign with six goals and 11 assists in all competitions as Bayern romped to a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title—picking up the DFB-Pokal along the way.
20 – Happy birthday Kingsley Coman (@FCBayern)! Youngster. pic.twitter.com/wFctAV1iSf
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) June 13, 2016
Further back, Jerome Boateng and Holger Badstuber also saw frequent visits to the club’s medical staff last term, so Kimmich, having been a midfielder, was thrown into central defence for much of the second half of the season.
He did not disappoint, enjoying 14 clean sheets in his 23 appearances, and he ended the season as a full Germany international.
He scored his first Germany goal as the world champions kicked off the defence of their title with a 3-0 win away to Norway in European qualifying Group C on Sunday, and many are now describing him as the natural successor to Philipp Lahm for club and country.
“When Philipp retires at …
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