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Renato Sanches, who was left off the World Cup team for Portugal and was also not in the squad for Swansea City’s Premier League finale, is heading back to Bayern Munich per a report by Merkur.
Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told Merkur that incoming coach Niko Kovac would work with Sanches to try and restore his form. The statement by Rummenigge, however, could be an elaborate sales pitch as Bayern has a glut of talent manning the central midfield positions, with many of those players versatile enough to move around to different roles where required. In comparison, Sanches is more limited and far less experienced than players like Arturo Vidal, Thiago Alcantara, Javi Martinez, Sebastian Rudy, Corentin Tolisso and incoming stalwart Leon Goretzka.
Niko Kovac will try to restore him to former strengths. It’s an exciting job task.
ESPN’s Mark Lovell expanded on the announcement and speculated that Sanches could be coming back only to be sent off to the likes of his former team, Benfica, or newly promoted Premier League side, Wolverhampton.
After struggling in debut season at Bayern and again in Wales with relegated Swansea, 2016 Golden Boy @renatosanches35 has been linked with a return to his first club Benfica while Premier League newboys Wolves are also reportedly interested.
— Mark Lovell (@LovellLowdown) May 17, 2018
Sanches, who is still only 20 years old, has been underwhelming since moving to Bayern from Benfica in 2016 and was even less productive for Swansea City during his loan this season.