AC Milan’s Gattuso lines up Renato Sanches move

It may not be long until Renato Sanches finds himself at a new club, as reports from Calciomercato.com suggest that AC Milan are lining up a move for the out-of-favor Portugese midfielder. Sanches, who experienced a less-than-exciting year on loan at recently relegated Swansea City last season, is unlikely to remain at the Allianz Arena for much longer, with a move to the Italian giants providing a reasonable exit plan for the former Benfica man.

Gennaro Gattuso, hot-head player turned manager, has overseen a mini-revival at his beloved club, and he seems to view Sanches as the sort of individual who can help push Milan further in a positive direction. After last summer’s splurge at the San Siro, where AC’s new owners spent over €100m, there is expected to be a tightening of the purse strings following the club’s breaching of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules. Cut-price offers and budget deals are bound to catch Gattuso’s eye, and there might not be a more exciting player available than Sanches, who is in desperate need of a fresh start.

Despite lighting up the European Champioships in 2016, which came just weeks after completing his move to Bayern, Sanches struggled for game time under then-manager Carlo Ancelotti. Attempting to break into a starting line-up which consisted of Xabi Alonso, Javi Martinez, Arturo Vidal and Thiago proved to be too hard a task for the youngster, and last summer saw Sanches depart in a loan move in an effort to impress the Bayern hiearchy. Unfortunately for him, that move didn’t quite go as planned, as a poor start to life in England saw him limited to just 9 starts in the Premier League, and 12 appearances overall.

Sanches struggled with the physical nature of English football, and was never afforded the opportunity of retribution as Swansea chopped and changed managers in an effort to stave off relegation. Multiple hamstring injuries at the end of January led to Carlos Carvalhal allowing the player a leave of absent in hopes it would assist with the rehabiliation process. Sanches would fail to make another appearance for the Welsh-based club, with Swansea ending up in the relegation zone at the close of the season.