Renato Sanches named Euro 2016 Young Player of the Tournament

Sanches beat international team-mate Raphael Guerreiro and his Bayern Munich colleague, France winger Kingsley Coman, to the award, which is open to players born in 1994 or later and selected by UEFA technical observers including Alex Ferguson.

Published : Jul 11, 2016 15:58 IST

Having only made his senior debut for Benfica as recently as October 2015, Sanches completed his remarkable first season by playing for 79 minutes of Sunday's win over France in the final.

Portugal midfielder Renato Sanches has been named as Euro 2016's Young Player of the Tournament.

Sanches beat international team-mate Raphael Guerreiro and his Bayern Munich colleague, France winger Kingsley Coman, to the award, which is open to players born in 1994 or later and selected by UEFA technical observers including Alex Ferguson.

The new Bayern signing appeared in six of the Selecao's seven matches at the tournament in France, scoring his first international goal in the quarter-final against Poland.

Sanches only had five caps coming into the tournament but has already established himself as a star of Portugal's present and future.

Having only made his senior debut for Benfica as recently as October 2015, the 18-year-old completed his remarkable first season by playing for 79 minutes of Sunday's win over France in the final.