Bayern Munich have snapped up one of Europe's most exciting talents, stealing Renato Sanchez away from under the nose of Manchester United for £28m.

While it has been seen as another example of United's transfer mismanagement by some, or Bayern's incredible early recruitment policy by others, still more impressive is the way Benfica seem to be able to continually produce some of Europe's top players.

In the past six years, the Portuguese side have been involved in 12 high-profile deals with big European clubs, with those players now totaling an astonishing £273million.

Bayern Munich announced the signing of Renato Sanches from Benfica for £28m on Tuesday

Sanches poses for a photo with Rummenigge after putting pen to paper on a five-year deal

Sanches is only the second of those players to have come through the ranks at the Portuguese club however, with their business model relying on signing up young talent - often from South America - and selling them on for a huge profit.

Four of those players have gone on to win the Champions League since leaving Benfica with another, Jan Oblak, in this year's final, while they have picked up dozens of domestic trophies between them.

Sanches is also the fifth of these players, alongside Angel di Maria, Fabio Coentrao, Bernardo Silva and Adre Gomes, to be represented by super-agent Jorge Mendes, who has helped the club turn into a selling machine.

Yet, despite losing such a vast pool of talent, Benfica continue to dominate Portuguese football, with their pool of talent seemingly never ending.

Since selling Di Maria in June 2010 they have never finished outside the top two in the league, are just a point away from sealing a third consecutive title, have won five domestic cups, and twice reached the final of the Europa League.

Sportsmail takes a look at those 13 big-money deals, and how they've managed it...

The 18-year-old is a powerful box-to-box midfielder, and is the 12th big-money player to leave in six years

2010

Angel di Maria (Real Madrid, £20m)

It would be wrong to say that Di Maria was unknown when he arrived at Benfica from Rosario in 2007, with Arsenal also interested, but he was a long way from the superstar he would become.

Having bought him for just £6m, the club helped him develop into one of Europe's leading prospects, and by the time he moved to Real Madrid they had turned a £14m profit. He has gone on to win La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Champions League, but struggled during his time at Manchester United.

Angel di Maria was at Benfica for three years before moving to Real Madrid for a huge profit

Ramires (Chelsea, £18m)

Another South American brought in and sold on at a huge profit. Ramires arrived at Benfica from Cruzeiro for just under £6m, and left for Chelsea for three times that amount.

A popular midfielder at Stamford Bridge, always noted for his incredible engine - often the extent that his technical ability is overlooked - he stayed in London for six years before a big-money move to China. In his time at Chelsea he won everything English and European football has to offer.

Energetic midfielder Ramires moved to Chelsea in 2010 and spent six years there after leaving Benfica

2011

Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid, £27m)

After coming through the ranks at Rio Ave, Benfica snapped up the Portuguese left back for a nominal fee. He took some time to break into the first team, and had three loan spells in his first two years at the club, before establishing himself as first choice.

Real Madrid came looking, and paid a huge fee for a full back, with Ezequiel Garay also going in the other direction. At Real he was in and out of the team, starting fewer and fewer league games before going on loan at Monaco this season. However, he has won La Liga and the Champions League during his time in Spain.

After impressing for Benfica, Fabio Coentrao signed for Real Madrid for a huge transfer fee of £27m

David Luiz (Chelsea, £25m)

Signed from Brazilian club Vitoria, first on loan and then for around £1m, the defender was named Benfica's player of the year in his third season, as his ability on the ball saw him develop into a world class ball-playing centre back.

Chelsea splashed the cash to bring him to Stamford Bridge, where he was popular for his willing smile and constant effort, but mocked for his all-too-common defensive howlers. Managed to win both the Champions League and Europa League before moving to PSG for a massive £50m, he highest ever fee for a defender.

David Luiz impressed at Benfica to earn him a move to Chelsea, where he won the Champions League

2012

Axel Witsel (Zenit, £32m)

The Belgian midfielder arrived at Benfica from Standard Liege for around £7m in 2011, and after just one season in Portugal moved to Zenit St Petersburg for £32m - a £25m profit.

It's not been all plain sailing for Witsel in Russia, but having lifted the title last season he and his side are still in with a chance of a second this year.

Belgian star Axel Witsel joined Benfica from Standard Liege, before moving to Russia for a massive £32m

2014

Rodrigo (Valencia, £25m)

Brazilian-born, but a Spanish international, Rodrigo joined Real Madrid at the age of 18 but never played first-team football, and moved to Benfica for around £5m in 2010.

After a loan spell at Bolton - where he scored just once in 17 league games - he did rather better back in Portugal, with 16 goals in his first season.

Eventually he moved to Valencia, first on loan, then for £25m, but in two years with the perpetually crisis-ridden Spanish club the forward has managed just four league goals.

Spain international Rodrigo came to Benfica from Real Madrid, before joining Valencia for £25m

Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid, £13m)

When he joined as a 17-year-old in 2010, Oblak had played a full professional season for Slovenian side Olimpija, but he was not deemed ready for the first team in Portugal.

Over the next four years he only played 16 league games for the first team, spending most of the time out on loan elsewhere in Portugal.

Yet he was so impressive in the second half of the 2013-14 campaign that Atletico Madrid made him the eighth most expensive goalkeeper ever. Now first choice at the Vicente Calderon, he has helped his side into this month's Champions League final.

Jan Oblak impressed for Benfica in 2014, and is now the No 1 for Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid

Lazar Markovic (Liverpool, £20m)

After impressing in his native Serbia, and being linked with a move to Chelsea, Markovic joined Benfica in 2013 for a little under £8m.

In just a season, which saw the club reach the Europa League final, his value went up to £20m, as he joined Liverpool as part of their post-Luis Suarez spending spree.

He has struggled at Anfield, and after a difficult first season under Brendan Rodgers, he went on loan to Fenerbache, where his season ended prematurely due to injury. Whether he gets a chance under Jurgen Klopp remains to be seen.

Lazar Markovic's one season at Benfica encouraged Liverpool to sign him, but he has struggled at Anfield

2015

Bernardo Silva (Monaco, £12.5m)

A rarity - like Sanches, Bernardo Silva is a product of the Benfica youth system, but unlike the man who has just left for Bayern, he never made an impact in the first team.

After just one Portuguese League appearance he moved to Monaco on loan, and after impressing in Ligue 1 he made that deal permanent.

This season he has been a key player for the French side as they push for Champions League qualification.

Bernardo Silva only played once in the league for Benfica before moving, at first on loan, to Monaco

Nemanja Matic (Chelsea, £21m)

Perhaps the most bizarre of the transfers in this list - Matic joined Benfica from Chelsea as part of the David Luiz deal in 2011, only for the Premier League side to realise they had made a mistake three years later.

Chelsea paid £17m more for him than they had received, but immediately saw the benefits, as Matic slipped seemlessly back into life at Stamford Bridge, winning the Premier League in his first full season.

This season, however, has not gone so well, and there are talks of a move away, possibly to another Premier League club - with Manchester United a possible destination if Jose Mourinho pitches up at Old Trafford.

Nemanja Matic made a move from Chelsea to Benfica, and then back again for £17m more, in 2015

Enzo Perez (Valencia, £20m)

Signed from Estudiantes in 2011, and already by that stage a full Argentina international, Perez's path from South America, to Benfica and then onto Spain is a familiar one.

But it all took a bit longer for the midfielder than some of their other big moves - an injury in his first season saw Perez go back to his former club on loan to re-discover his form, and by the time he moved to join Valencia in 2015, he was already 29.

Has been in and out of the team this season, unable to hold down a place under any of the club's three managers in a tough campaign.

Enzo Perez made the move away from Benfica later than most, joining Valencia at the age of 29 for £20m

Andre Gomes (Valencia, £11.5m)

Not really a Benfica academy graduate, because his game was formed as a young player at three other clubs including Porto, but he was at the club from the age of 18.

He broke into the first team in 2012, before really cementing a first-team place in the 2013-14 season.

Valencia signed him on loan - at the same time as Rodrigo - and a year later he made that deal permanent, and remains a key player for the Spanish side.

Andre Gomes has become a key player for Valencia since signing, first on loan, then permanently last summer

2016

Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich £28m)

It was only in August that Renato Sanches made his first-team debut for Benfica, yet within the space of a season he has proved himself ready for a huge step up.

First as a winger, then a central midfielder, the 18-year-old has lit up the Portuguese league, and will now join up with German champions Bayern.