Wolverhampton Wanderers have agreed on a loan deal for Lille and Portugal midfielder Renato Sanches, despite the 24-year-old currently recovering from recent knee surgery he suffered in match week two of Ligue 1.

Sanches has resurrected his career since joining Lille from Bayern Munich in 2019. He originally joined Bayern for an initial €35m, potentially rising to €80m, in 2016 while still a teenager. But the player struggled to establish himself in Germany and later flopped on loan at English side Swansea.

Renato Sanches. | PHOTO: Courtesy |

But Sanches helped Lille win Ligue 1 last season and has once more been of interest to Premier League clubs after a successful Euros with Portugal. Liverpool was believed to have been monitoring him, while Arsenal made contact with Lille via intermediaries before eventually heading in a different direction by signing Albert Sambi Lokonga and Martin Odegaard for a combined £45m instead.

Reports in June suggested that Sanches is ready to try and prove himself in the Premier League after the unfinished business from his time at Swansea.

Now it is Wolves who will bring him back and the deal announced by the clubs says that the loan agreement with Lille has been reached. The obvious issue, however, is that it could take some time before Sanches plays because of his recent operation, which is expected to keep him sidelined for another few weeks.

Renato Sanches in action for Portugal’s national team. | PHOTO: Courtesy |

Like many existing Wolves and Portugal players, Sanches is a client of super-agent Jorge Mendes’ Gestifute stable and he will soon be able to play alongside his countrymen Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence, Francisco Trincao, Fabio Silva, Nelson Semedo, Jose Sa and Bruno Jordao among his new clubmates in a very Portuguese heavy squad.

Wolves have started the new Premier League season on a poor run of form losing all the three openers to Leicester, Tottenham Hotspurs led by Wolves former coach Nuno Espirito and Manchester United. Remarkably, they have lost all three matches by 1-0.

Wolves next travel to newly-promoted Watford after the international break as they seek to score their first goal of the season under the new manager, Bruno Lage.