Renato Sanches raising eyebrows abroad

The sensational start to his career by Benfica's teenage star Renato Sanches has quickly led to speculation of a move abroad. Tom Kundert writes about the 18-year-old midfield dynamo for UK newspaper The Daily Mirror

Two months ago Benfica’s season looked set to be a shambles. In a country where there are basically three teams that matter, the reigning champions had been badly beaten three times in succession by Lisbon rivals Sporting, Porto had also got the better of them, they were out of the Portuguese Cup and were lagging eight points behind top spot.

It was at this point that 18-year-old Renato Sanches was given his first-team debut by under-fire coach Rui Vitoria. It is no coincidence that the Eagles have since got their act together in highly impressive fashion. Since Sanches became a fixture in the team at the end of November, Benfica have won 11 and drawn one of their 12 matches in domestic play. Read more...