Benfica searching for Portuguese manager

Benfica President Rui Costa has announced that he is currently searching for a manager to take over the club for next season and his preference is a manager who is Portuguese and understands the game in Portugal. Costa speaking to reporters is expecting the manager to be able to work with the clubs youth as he looks to use more Seixal academy youngsters and is looking at reducing the squad numbers to a more work able number.

Costa has taken a lot of heat of late as Benfica continue to spiral this season with no end in sight and with the club set to take on Ajax in the Champions League round of 16 over the next few weeks. The expectations are as low as they have been in recent memory for the club to advance to the quarter-final stage. Benfica recently lost in the Taca da Liga Final to city rivals Sporting and their form leaves alot to be desired.

Costa is also looking at changing the clubs focus on transfers as he plans to look within the league for reinforcements before looking abroad as has been the case over the past few seasons. Costa looks set to remove all memory of Jorge Jesus' second stint with the club which saw the club spend a record haul on players which produced no return on their investment with the club failing to capture any hardware.