Paul Clement has admitted that Swansea City’s loan recruit Renato Sanches has so far been a shadow of the player who lit up Euro 2016 with Portugal.
The Swans boss was forced to defend Sanches from strident criticism from some pundits prior to the club’s game at Chelsea and was again trying to put a brave face on the midfielder’ shortcomings after Wednesday night’s 1-0 loss to the Premier League champions.
The 20-year-old – on a season long loan from Bayern Munich – was taken off by Clement in something of a mercy killing after 45 minutes at Stamford Bridge that made for painful and sometimes excruciating watching.
“He had a poor half,” said Clement. “I feel for him because he is a very talented player and I don’t think in any of the games this year he has shown the talent that he has.
“It goes without saying that if you go from Benfica to Bayern Munich and you win a European Championships with Portugal and you play in games in the latter stages of the competition then you are a very good player.
“He is a player who is struggling for confidence and is struggling for form. We believe we are the right environment to get him out of that.
“I am behind him, the technical staff are behind him and his team-mates are behind him. We hope that he is going to make the right steps that are needed.”
Sanches – whose move to the Liberty Stadium was touted by some as the transfer coup of the summer – is yet to provide a goal or an assist in his eight Premier League appearances this season and gave the ball away far too easily against the champions.
His night was summed up when he was distracted by a red image on an advertising hoarding and rolled a short pass over the touchline without a teammate within yards of the ball.
“I think he has got to start with the basics and get the simple things right,” added Clement.
“At the moment I am seeing games where he is trying very difficult things but today you see him misplacing lots of simple passes. His confidence is very low.
“He wants it very badly. I mean, Monday to Friday he is working, working and working. It is just not happening for him in games at the moment.”
Away from Sanches’ struggles, Clement admitted he was frustrated with the way Swansea conceded from Antonio Rudiger’s header, but said his side defended well.
“I thought for long periods we defended very well. We were obviously under a lot of pressure and Chelsea had a lot of near misses,” he said.
“We’re frustrated and disappointed with the nature of the goal when we have been defending well over recent games. At the start of the season we conceded a couple of set plays but we put things right.
“After that though, we didn’t collapse, we kept defending well and we were just waiting for that opportunity because, at 1-0, you’re still in the game. We tried to create some opportunities but they were few and far between but the players put in a big effort.”
