Manchester United manager rues missing out on Bayern Munich midfielder

Jose Mourinho has hinted Renato Sanches made a mistake in joining Bayern Munich and revealed Manchester United’s delay in sacking Louis van Gaal cost the club his signing last summer.

United scouted Sanches extensively last season while he was at Benfica and looked to be in pole position for his signature before Bayern stole in and completed a stunning £28m deal in May last year.

The 19-year-old was one of the stories of Euro 2016 and played an integral part in Portugal’s triumph but has find life difficult at Bayern this season under Carlo Ancelotti and Mourinho has been vocal in his assessment of his fellow countryman.

“We want the young boys to play and to perform,” Manchester Evening News quote Mourinho as saying after United’s 3-0 win over Sunderland on Sunday. “At the same time, the best teams want to win and it is difficult to win with the learning curve of young boys.

“You go to other clubs where young players are developed. It’s easy when there is no pressure playing in mid-table where you can win today, lose tomorrow. It’s different at big clubs.

“The Portuguese kid, Renato Sanches, who is a European Champion. But he doesn’t play in Bayern Munich. The last match he played, they lost to Hoffenheim. Will he play in the Champions League quarter-finals? I have my doubts. You know, there are contradictions in all of us.”

“I arrived late. I signed in May, we started talking a week before, but completely out of the process. If I had arrived earlier, I’d fight for him. Manchester United watched Renato many times and maybe I did it even more. In so much time at home, I watched many Benfica and Portuguese league games, I got to know the boy better with time.

“He’s in a big club, in a league where he’ll certainly be the champion. The club have players of very high level which belong to the structure, a little like Benfica.”

Despite being named the young player of Euro 2016, Sanches has only started five Bundesliga matches this season and been forced to make a further 10 appearances from the bench. He is also Bayern’s lowest rated outfielder this season (6.34).

For more stats on Renato Sanches, click here to visit his WhoScored player page