Renato Sanches interview: "I chose PSG because I love France"

PSG defender Renato Sanches, who didn't get called up by Portugal to perform in the World Cup, spoke with Views in an interview published by the lifestyle magazine on Tuesday.

Sanches arrived in Paris last summer signing with Paris Saint-Germain from fellow French club LOSC Lille ahead of the 2022-23 campaign after spending three years with the latter.

With half of the season gone and Sanches still trying to find his footing in the capital, Sanches revealed that he "had received three offers from PSG in the past", but he always rejected them.

"Last summer, I thought it finally was the right time for me to join PSG."

Sanches explained that "knowing Christophe Galtier very well" obviously "weighed in his decision" of moving to Paris from Lille.

With AC Milan interested in his services last summer, Sanches still opted to sign with PSG over the Rossoneri. "I chose Paris because I love France."

Renato Sanches: "I made the right decision by choosing Bayern, but I did it too soon"

Sanches explains that, for him, "from the age of 15 or 16, football was no longer just a game," saying that it turned into "a passion." He continued saying that "at that moment, I became more aware of what football meant to me. I understood that my life could change (because of football)."

Although he played in a European giant from the get-go, part of Portuguese behemoth Benfica's academy since 2010, Sanches' transfer to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2016 by €35M was widely discussed as an overpayment.

Things looked even worse when just one year later, in the summer of 2017, Sanches got loaned to Swansea after not reaching the expected levels of play Bayern once thought they would get from Sanches.

"At the time (in 2016), people were talking about the price of my transfer. I didn't really think about it," revealed Sanches. "No matter what a team pays for me, if I don't play I won't be happy."

"I always want to be good, no matter the cost (the transfer value attached to his name, he meant)."

Speaking about his time in Germany playing for Bayern Munich, Renato Sanches said that "if you feel the pressure, you don't perform (well)." That statement was offered after explaining that sometimes "you might think you don't feel the pressure and (nothing is impacting you) so you perform well, but that's not the case."

Sanches, nonetheless, made clear that "I made the right decision by choosing Bayern," although he acknowledges that he "did it too soon."

"I didn't expect to experience what I went through (with Bayern), injuring myself during my first training session," said Sanches. "Mentally, it was obviously not going well," he conceded.

Sanches explained that moving from Lisbon to Munich "was a difficult transition," reasoning that he "was alone, 19 years old," and that he wrongly thought he was "ready to be alone, to face the challenge" before acknowledging that "now I know I wasn't." He said that the full experience, though, "made [him] grow."

Although accepting he's not going through the best of times, Sanches says that "winning the Euro 2016 is the best achievement of my career."

"Winning (the European championship) here in France, I made a dream come true," said Sanches. "I had won everything that season, so I couldn't ask for more."

Renato Sanches has appeared in 10 Ligue 1 games with PSG this season scoring two goals through 316 minutes. He has also made three appearances in the Champion League group stages, although he has yet to score a goal or assist one under the brightest lights of European club football.