Arsenal: Lille stance on Renato Sanches asking price

Some players’ form comes in fits and starts. Alexandre Lacazette is a prime example of this, at least at Arsenal, where he has purple patches in front of goal followed by barren spells of painful absence. From a spectator’s point of view, the same can be said of Renato Sanches.

With the European Championships now into the quarter-final stages, 24 teams have been whittled down to just eight. Bukayo Saka is the only remaining Arsenal player left who can play in the quarter-final stage, following Xhaka’s suspension.

Big hitters Germany, France and the Netherlands are out, but despite the major upsets, Portugal continue to garner plenty of attention, mostly due to one man. And no, it’s not Cristiano Ronaldo.

On the hunt for midfielders this summer, Arsenal are within touching distance of announcing their first one: Albert Sambi Lokonga. The emphasis is on the Belgian not being the sole arrival in that department as it would be suicidal of Mikel Arteta to enter into a Premier League season with the bodies he has on board presently.

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Lille stance on Renato Sanches asking fee would outprice Arsenal this summer transfer window despite the midfielder’s obvious talent

Come winter it may be only Joe Willock and Lokonga around to man the fort, and even Willock could be moved on if the right offer arrives. Thus, with numerous profiles available depending on whether Arsenal will replace Granit Xhaka with a like-for-like or try to be more expansive with a box-to-box option, one name has cropped up.

Onlookers have been smitten by his performances for A Seleção, in particular his display against France in which he glided around the pitch with a delicate grace that incorporated clever carries and inventive attacking prowess.

90min then reported last week that Sanches features among the Gunners’ summer targets. It’s stated that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Lille cash this window and try to scoop a profit on their £18m investment (Lille are quite magnificent at that), with sources stating that the 22-year-old is keen to prove himself in the Premier League.

However, as recently as March, the French side had slapped a €80m price tag on the midfielder, as noted by France-based journalist Matt Spiro, and given his performances in the Euros, it’s increasingly unlikely that they’ll lower that figure by any large amount despite the financial troubles facing French football clubs.

The clamour from Arsenal supporters, and those of rival clubs who were all smitten by his Portugal displays, grew when his former teammate Gabriel posted a message on his Instagram asking him to ‘come to Arsenal’. The midfielder duly obliged with ‘I’m [I’ll] wait for your invitation’.

Naturally that stirred the pot, yet could quite easily mean Gabriel just wants to see his old pal which, in truth, it definitely does.

But the fanfare around Sanches hasn’t dissipated. Is he someone Arsenal should be looking at?

Continued…

Renato Sanches Would Likely Cost Arsenal Beyond Their Means

Renato Sanches was the talk of the town in 2016 after a magnificent European Championships for Portugal as they stunned France to lift to trophy. Bayern Munich won a hotly contested race for his signature, a move where he completely lost his way. It wasn’t the right fit, he got injured in 2018 and then had a torrid loan spell at Swansea which set him back further – three seasons of his career drifted by.

He’s completely revived his career since, moving to Lille in the summer of 2019. Finding his feet again and blossoming in Ligue 1, his trajectory veered away of its slide and he demonstrated that by being Portugal’s best player up until their last-16 elimination.

To say his form only comes in the Euros is unjust, however, as Sanches had an excellent to start to the previous campaign for Lille en route to their title win. He suffered an injury that then limited the amount of starts he made for the rest of the season, but still impressed playing in a variety of midfield roles.

Someone who loves to be involved in as much of the play as he can, his rampaging ball carries where he blends balance and brutality can be mesmeric. Completing an average of 3.93 dribbles per game (98th percentile) and carrying the ball into the box 0.75 times per 90 (98th percentile), his willingness to drive and thrust his side forward is evident.

https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1409252375148253184

He has flicks, tricks and skills in abundance, sits in the 97th percentile for goal-creating actions and visually delights with his quick bursts of speed from standstill, reminiscent of Jack Wilshere in his pomp.

Sanches is someone who makes things happen. A midfielder who can turn on a sixpence, feed an onrushing forward or glide beyond his man into shooting positions. When he plays without fear and the confidence oozes out of him, he’s borderline unstoppable.

If any club were signing that Sanches, they wouldn’t think twice. It’d have to be a side with a combative No. 6 alongside though, someone who can make up for his lack of physicality and defensive output – which is the obvious weak point to his game – hence why he flourishes for Portugal with Danilo Pereira and Joao Moutinho.

Coming back to that transfer fee though, €80m is a gigantic outlay to part with for a player who it would appear only suits certain environments. That said, Sanches is a perfect example of how progression isn’t linear in football and those bad years at Bayern may be the only ones of a career being steadily rebuilt.

But the money is too steep. Were he tried and tested in the Premier League then there could be a change of heart, yet even still it’s a significant sum to part with in a summer where the Arsenal budget is something of a blur. A huge talent in the right profile, but a huge fee.