Joshua Kimmich praises Bayern Munich teammate Renato Sanches

German right-back Joshua Kimmich has heaped praise on Renato Sanches for his performances for Bayern Munich this season.

The mood at Bayern Munich is now almost back to normal after three consecutive wins since the last international break. The team still needs to step up their performances, but they’re on the right track. These three wins will provide a confidence boost to help the players improve even further in the coming games.

Perhaps more so than the  rest of his team, 21-year-old Renato Sanches is greatly growing in confidence. The Portuguese midfielder has been a consistent positive for Bayern this season. He played a pivotal role in Bayern’s winner against Mainz on Saturday. Speaking to Sport1 (via Sport Bild), Joshua Kimmich hailed the mentality of his young teammate. Kimmich is impressed with Sanches’ hard work after a two-year disappointing spell with the Bavarians.

"“I take my hat off to him: coming here alone at the 18.“He didn’t have it so easy the first time around, but then to come back and clearly state that he wanted to succeed, it’s remarkable how he’s done that, mentally.”"

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Sanches was written off as a flop at Bayern after struggling in his first season at the club. There were no significant improvements in his game when he went on a season long loan to Swansea City last year either. It was widely expected that Bayern would cut their losses this summer and try to offload Sanches to help balance their midfield.

Sanches’ turnaround began when Niko Kovac openly praised him during Bayern’s preseason tour. Kovac was desperate to hold on to the player and bring the best out of him. Sanches didn’t disappoint his new manager, delivering several good performances in his preseason games. He had to wait a while for his first start of the season, however, as Kovac persisted in using him as a late-game sub.

Kovac handed Sanches his first start of the season in Bayern’s Champions League match against Benfica, his former side. The 21-year-old scored his first Bayern goal in the match, and has remained consistent with his good performances since then — despite the poor form of his club. He has even regained his spot on the Portugal national team.

Sanches’ good displays have reportedly attracted interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, but he is eager to succeed at Bayern and prolong his career at the club. The Portuguese midfielder has to repay Kovac’s faith by continuing to impress throughout the season. He could even push to be Kovac’s number one midfielder by the end of the season.

In his interview, Kimmich also had words of praise for Jerome Boateng. The German was back in the starting lineup on Saturday after an injury to Mats Hummels in warm-up kept him from playing. Kimmich was impressed with the way Boateng switched on quickly and delivered a good performance in the heart of defense. Bayern Munich now shift their attention to the DFB Pokal match against SV Rodinghausen on Tuesday, where they should win comfortably.