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Football

02nd Jul 2016

Former Manchester United winger claims club will live to regret passing on Renato Sanches

"I have no doubts"

Darragh Murphy

If there’s anything to be learned from this summer’s European Championships, perhaps it’s that we should stop referring to certain sides as “one-man teams.”

Poland progressed to the quarter-finals without Robert Lewandowski finding the net, Gareth Bale’s contribution has been matched by a number of Welsh players en route to the semi-finals and Portugal are also in the final four in spite of a number of underwhelming performances from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Amidst Ronaldo’s struggles, his teammates have picked up his slack and 18-year-old midfielder Renato Sanches has looked much more exciting on the ball than the Real Madrid superstar.

Sanches netted a spectacular equaliser in the quarter-finals and displayed confidence beyond his years with his strike in the penalty shootout.

We’ve already heard of the stupid reason that Manchester United missed out on the youngster who has since signed for Bayern Munich.

And former United player, and current international teammate of Sanches’, Nani has revealed that the Red Devils may well regret passing up the opportunity.

“Renato would have been a great signing for Man United. I have no doubts,” Nani said in quotes from Manchester Evening News.

“But he had a choice – and the choice he made was Bayern Munich.

“I hope he has made a good choice and that he is happy in his career, but I think United will now know what a big player they have missed.

“Renato is a very confident player. He is very young, but he already has a great personality for the game.

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“He isn’t scared to play in the big games and he isn’t scared to show his qualities against any opponent.

“It is good to see another young player want to be a star and to achieve his dreams. You must be like that. You can’t be afraid of anything – and he isn’t.”

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