Bayern Munich loanee Renato Sanches has had a rather unfortunately underwhelming spell with Swansea City in the Premier League, plagued with injuries. After sustaining a hamstring injury back in the middle of January, the Portuguese midfielder returned to Munich in February to receive treatment from Bayern’s team doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt.

Per ESPN, Sanches is expected to return to Swansea next week and is likely to play at least some part in Swansea’s six remaining league fixtures as they fight to climb further away from the relegation zone. Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal revealed that the midfielder was actually expected to return to Swansea this week, but Bayern’s doctors recommended that finals scans should be done before he was allowed to return. An eager Carvalhal admitted that the wait for Sanches’s return has been frustrating, and has been in the hands of Bayern’s medical staff:

It is not in our hands. It is in the doctors’ hands at Bayern Munich. We know the information we are being given but we need to wait. He will be ready to train when he comes back. I cannot do anything. I [also] have to wait. He is injured. What can we do? He cannot come and train like this.

Carvalhal also went on to express Sanches’s eagerness to get back into the fold ahead of Swansea’s run-in:

Of course, he wants to come back. He wants to play and be training and be happy. He is ready to come to Swansea. He said he was sad earlier this week when he could not come back to Swansea

No better time for a good run of form

In his six and half months with Swansea thus far, Sanches has only made a total of 16 appearances across all competitions, having not been in the squad through injury on 15 separate occasions. The 20-year old experienced a brief resurgence when Carlos Carvalhal took charge of the club after Paul Clement was sacked, completing two 90 minute shifts in back-to-back league matches against Watford and Tottenham before injuring his thigh in the FA Cup vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers. Since that thigh injury, Sanches really struggled to get back to full fitness and sustained his troubling hamstring injury shortly thereafter.

With how disappointing and frustrating his loan spell has been, nothing could be better for Sanches then to finish the season on a high with a string of positive performances. It remains unclear what exactly will happen with Sanches after his year long loan spell ends, but an effective finish to the Swans’ campaign would certainly be a step in the right direction.