Soccer: Swansea boss Clement backs misfiring Sanches to find form

(Reuters) - Swansea City midfielder Renato Sanches has yet to showcase his true abilities and is low on confidence, manager Paul Clement said as he backed the highly-regarded Portuguese playmaker to rediscover his best form at the Premier League club.

Sanches, who joined Swansea on a season-long loan from Germany's Bayern Munich in August, has failed to make an impact in eight league games for the Welsh side and was substituted at half-time during Wednesday's 1-0 loss at champions Chelsea.

"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," Clement said after the match.

"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... We hope that he is going to make the right steps that are needed."

The 20-year-old won the 2016 European Championships with Portugal and has already won domestic league titles with Benfica and Bayern Munich.

Clement believes that Sanches must start by improving his fundamental skills after the midfielder lost the ball too many times against Chelsea as Swansea continued their slump with a fifth defeat in their last six league games.

"I think he has got to start with the basics and get the simple things right," Clement added.

"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."

Defender Martin Olsson believes Swansea will soon get back to winning ways as the 19th-placed team are slowly improving.

"We are not on the best run at the moment but we believe it's going to turn," Olsson told the club's website.

"We have been better in the last couple of games, so hopefully the results will come soon because we know we need to pick up some points."

Swansea travel to 16th-placed Stoke City, who are also struggling, on Saturday.

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)