Benfica look to have found Rafa replacement

Welcome to Benfica. Orkun Kokcu, the Turkish attacking midfielder seems to have finally found his place with the club after a handful of sparkling performances in the attacking midfielder role. A position that Kokcu seems most comfortable playing and a position that earned him the Eredivisie Player of the Year during the 2022-23 season.

Benfica manager Roger Schmidt tried to see what kind of versatility he could get from the 23 year-old during the season by playing him in a variety of positions, but other than a decent performance here and there, it was a continuous failed experiment. 

It looks to have taken a Kokcu interview with a Dutch media outlet in March to change the mind of the German manager, an interview in which Kokcu stated his lack of playing time in his preferred attacking position had a lot to do with a string of poor performances this season. 

With current XI starter Rafa Silva set to become a free agent at the end of the season, Benfica is finally getting what they paid for when they acquired Kokcu during the summer for a club record fee of €25M and they have hopefully found the heir apparent to Rafa going forward.