Lille midfielder Renato Sanches is reportedly on the radar of Italian Serie A outfit AS Roma. According to the publication from Italian media portal chiesaditotti, the Portuguese national team player could be the first signing in the Jose Mourinho managerial era at the club.
Sanches has been able to rebuild his young football career at French Ligue 1 leaders Lille in the last two years after a disappointing spell at German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
The Portuguese midfielder is on course to win the league with Lille ahead of French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint Germain (PSG). Four points from the last two league matches would be enough for Sanches and Lille to win the league for the first time in around a decade.
Sanchesis a Benfica academy product. He impressed for Benfica B between 2014 and 2016, netting three goals in 34 games. His form for the B team prompted his ascent to the first team in 2015.
The AS Roma target left Benfica to join German champions Bayern Munich in May 2016 for a fee of €80m including €45m in add-ons. He joined the Bavarian giants at the age of 18.
Sanches struggled during his time at Bayern Munich. He found it difficult to acclamatise to his new surroundings. The young midfielder played just 621 minutes in the league in his first season but that didn’t stop him from making the Portugal squad for Euro 2016. He was part of the team that won the tournament.
Lille signed him from Bayern Munich at the start of last season for €20m and he has five goals and four assists in 57 games for the club.