Renato Sanches has come far since his most embarrassing moment at Swansea City | OneFootball

Renato Sanches has been one of the most impressive performers at Euro 2020 so far.

The 23-year-old came off the bench towards the end of Portugal’s opening Group F match against Hungary and entered the fray at half-time in the 4-2 defeat against Germany.

However, Sanches was given the nod to start against France by manager Fernando Santos and took the opportunity with both hands.

Shining while up against a midfield comprised of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante is no mean feat, but Sanches impressed with his energy, tenacity and quality on the ball.

Karim Benzema was awarded UEFA’s Star of the Match award after scoring a brace during the 2-2 draw but Sanches certainly made a big impression on everybody watching.

British football fans may have been a little surprised by just how good he was at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

Renato Sanches's Swansea disaster

Sanches briefly played in the Premier League during an ill-fated loan spell with Swansea City and was an unmitigated disaster.

Swansea fans were understandably buzzing when they signed the highly-rated youngster on a season-long loan deal from Bayern Munich in August 2017.

But they couldn’t have been left more disappointed by his contribution over the course of 15 extremely forgettable appearances.

Swansea were relegated at the end of the season and Sanches had done virtually nothing to help prevent the club’s slide to the Championship.

On his first appearance for the club, Sanches managed to lose possession 14 times in just 28 minutes.

The nadir of Sanches’s woeful loan spell, however, came against Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge.

Unmarked and under no pressure, Sanches inexplicably passed the ball straight out of play to the advertising boards.

The poor lad must have thought the bull from the Carabao Cup logo in his peripheral vision was a teammate.

Paul Clement, whose reaction to the pass said it all, duly subbed the midfielder off for Leroy Fer at half-time.

Fast-forward four years, though, and Sanches has managed to completely turn things around for himself.

He won the Ligue 1 title with Lille this season and started for Portugal in their Round of 16 clash against Belgium.

Sanches is an example to every footballer - young and old - of why it’s so important to never give up and continue believing in yourself, regardless of what people might say about you.

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