Swansea boss Paul Clement admits Renato Sanches is struggling with form and confidence after he had to withdraw the midfielder at halftime of their defeat to Chelsea.

Sanches went into the game under heavy criticism from local pundits.

Clement said: "Sanches was not injured, he had a poor half," he said of the former Benfica man, whose acquisition had been viewed as a major coup for the Welsh club.

"I feel for him, he is a talented player but I don't think in any of the games he has played this year he has showed the talent he has.

"It goes without saying that if you move from Benfica to Bayern Munich and win a European Championship with Portugal playing in games in the latter stages of the competition, you are a very good player.

"But he is struggling for confidence, he is struggling for form. We believe we are the right environment to try and get him out of that. We are behind him, his team-mates are behind him and we hope he can take the right steps that are needed.

"He has to start with the basics, getting the simple things right. At the moment we are seeing games where he is trying difficult things, but today he misplaced some simple passes."