Ipswich Town and Hull City have been in contact to sign Renato Sanches, with the midfielder set to be allowed to leave Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
The two newly-promoted sides are going head-to-head in the race for Sanches, after making positive starts to their Premier League campaigns, with Ipswich running out 2-1 winners against Sunderland, while Hull prevailed 2-0 against Manchester United.
However, in order to avoid the drop, further additions may be needed ahead of the September 1st transfer deadline, and Sanches, who has 32 caps to his name for Portugal, has now emerged as an option.
The central midfielder’s had a varied career, testing himself in France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Italy, while he also made 12 appearances for Swansea City during the 2017-18 Premier League campaign.
That said, he has struggled to make an impact at PSG, making 27 appearances for the French side in all competitions in the 2022-23 season, which was his debut year, before spending time out on loan with a number of different clubs.
|
Renato Sanches’ career stats |
Appearances |
Goal involvements |
|
Benfica (two spells) |
56 |
4 |
|
Bayern Munich |
53 |
5 |
|
Swansea City |
15 |
1 |
|
Lille |
91 |
17 |
|
Paris Saint-Germain |
27 |
2 |
|
AS Roma |
12 |
1 |
|
Panathinaikos |
24 |
2 |
Although the 29-year-old’s time at PSG hasn’t gone to plan, he has received plaudits for his overall career from ex-Benfica youth coach Renato Paiva.
Speaking about his former players, Paiva said: “Renato Sanches combined technical quality with physical strength; he was a force of nature, but with excellent technical quality. Joao Cancelo also had exceptional technical ability, whilst Ederson also had incredible qualities. All these players already gave us signs that they would reach a very high level, and we were not mistaken; they ended up reaching that high level.”
Ipswich and Hull competing for Renato Sanches
According to a report from Foot Mercato (via Get French Football News), Ipswich and Hull have now made approaches to sign Sanches, with PSG willing to terminate his contract, which would allow him to leave on a free transfer.
The PSG midfielder has already knocked back offers from the MLS, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, as he wants to be part of an ‘enticing sporting project’ for the next three seasons.
Clubs in Spain and France have also made enquiries about the Benfica academy graduate, so the Tigers and the Tractor Boys are set to face plenty of competition in the race for his signature.
Gary O’Neil’s side have already strengthened in the middle of the park considerably this summer, signing Florentino and Sasa Lukic, while they are also on the verge of signing Exequiel Palacios from Bayer Leverkusen.
Hull, on the other hand, have brought in Jens Hjerto-Dahl and Lucas Gourna-Douath to bolster their midfield, but manager Sergej Jakirovic recently insisted he is still expecting more new signings: “I’m expecting three or four more players. We bought some players, they are good players, potential players but they need more time for adaptation and to get chemistry with the team.
“We did a good pre-season now we can start the official games. Our recruitment team together with Mr Chairman [Acun Ilicali], they are working [on] a lot of new players so we need some positions still. We need more players and also for the competition on these positions.”
