Renato Sanches joins Benfica!

WELCOME, RENATO SANCHES!

Nurtured at Sport Lisboa e Benfica, 26-year-old midfielder Renato Sanches is returning home to wear the eagles' jersey and strengthen the professional football team for the 2024/25 season, on loan from French club PSG. The agreement includes an option to buy.

Determined to "help" and "make the team stronger", Renato Sanches brings with him everything that an athlete made in Benfica has: passion, selflessness, determination and extreme ambition.

This is what the Portuguese international midfielder reveals to us when he talks about his long-desired return, he confesses, to the home that made him grow up in the world of football. And now he promises - in an interview with BTV the full version of which you can also see here – what he has always shown with the "Manto Sagrado": dedication and hard work!

INTERVIEW

CAREER

Renato Sanches played his first season with the eagle on his chest in 2007/08, when he joined the club from Águias da Musgueira.

From then on, he progressed through Benfica's various youth teams, becoming national champion in the Under-15 and Under-17 age groups, until he moved up to the B team, where he played more than 30 official games.

He made his debut for Benfica's first team on October 30, 2015, playing 15 minutes in the match against Tondela, on matchday 9 of the National Championship, at the Estádio Municipal de Aveiro.

His first appearance in the starting lineup came a few days later, on November 25, 2015, when he played against FC Astana, from Kazakhstan, in a Champions League Group C match. The midfielder was on his way to the big time!

DEBUT AS STARTER AT THE GLORIOSO

Five days later (November 30, 2015) he made his first appearance as a starter for Benfica in the National Championship, on matchday 11 against Braga. His first goal for the eagles came against Académica, at the Estádio da Luz, on December 4, 2015, when he scored with a powerful long-range shot.

Throughout the 2015/16 season he became a key player in winning the third league title in a row and also lifted the League Cup trophy. Renato Sanches ended the season with 35 appearances and two goals.

Voted Golden Boy in 2016, the midfielder also made the national team as a Benfica player, making his debut on March 25 of that year in a private match against Bulgaria at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria. It was the first of five games prior to the call-up for the 2016 European Championship in France, which Portugal won and in which Renato Sanches played in six games and scored a goal against Poland in the quarter-finals.

CHAMPION KEPT WINNING

As a result of his excellent performances with the Manto Sagrado, Renato Sanches, who won the national championship with Benfica in 2015/16, was signed by Bayern Munich - the deal was formalized on May 10, 2016.

In Germany in 2016/17, he made 25 appearances for the Bavarians, and the following season, 2017/18, after winning the Super Cup, he went on loan to Swansea, where he made 15 appearances in England.

On his return to Munich at the start of 2018/19, he faced Benfica on September 19, 2018, in Group E of the Champions League. That season, in total, he made 24 appearances and scored two goals.

After celebrating successes in the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Super Cup, Renato Sanches began a new stage in his career in France with Lille in August 2019. Three seasons of high performance followed: he made over 90 official appearances and scored seven goals, helping the northern French side win a league title and a Super Cup.

Paris Saint-Germain then made a move to sign Renato Sanches for the 2022/23 season, in which he appeared on 27 occasions, scored two goals and once again enjoyed success in the league and the Super Cup.

In 2023/24, the central midfielder was loaned by PSG to Italian side Roma, where he played 12 games and scored one goal.

Renato Sanches has 76 caps for Portugal's national teams: 32 for the Senior National Team (three goals), 4 for the Under-21s, 12 for the Under-19s (three goals), 19 for the Under-17s (four goals), 7 for the Under-16s (one goal) and 2 for the Under-15s.