Keaton Parks is on his way back to Benfica after an impressive loan spell with Major League Soccer club New York City FC. Parks will return to Portugal in December to join Benfica after completing his season long loan. The 22 year old defensive midfielder appeared in 26 games across all competitions for New York scoring once and setting up another. Parks joined Benfica in the summer of 2017 from Portuguese side Varzim but has spent most of his time in Portugal with Benfica's B squad, only appearing six times for the main squad for a total of just 101 minutes. Parks will likely return to the B squad after arriving in Lisbon as Benfica's defensive midfield role is pretty much locked down by the likes of Florentino, Fejsa and Samaris.
Benfica striker Seferovic has returned from International duty with Switzerland having sustained an injury in warm ups last Friday as the Swiss side was set to take on Georgia. Seferovic was immediately released by the Swiss and returned to Benfica for medical evaluation. Benfica have confirmed that Seferovic has suffered a left leg injury and will not be counted on for this weeks upcoming fourth round Taca de Portugal encounter against Vizela. Benfica will continue to evaluate Seferovic's injury and at this time he could miss a month of action but the club is still not certain the time line on the Swiss strikers injury. Seferovic's injury will open up more playing time for this summers acquisitions Carlos Vinicius and Raul de Tomas.
Benfica got some good news from the Rafa Silva injury front as the wingers recovery is going well and on schedule at this current time. Rafa who injured his middle adductor tendon in the clubs Champions League encounter against Lyon is responding positively to treatment but it is too early to tell when the 26 year old will return to competition. The medical staffs first assessment of the injury put Rafa back in action sometime in March but the medical staff are set to re-evaluate the injury by the end of next week hoping to get a more accurate return to action for the Portuguese International. This type of injury normally has a four month recovery time which would see Rafa in action with Benfica in February but Chiquinho suffered a similar injury earlier this season and returned in half the time which was two months. Injury recoveries tend to go on a case by case basis and Benfica's medical staff plan to follow all protocols to make sure that Rafa returns to action fully recovered.
