Benfica's run for the Portuguese League title has been put on hold as the Portuguese League has suspended play due to COVID-19. The league has decided that Week 25's games which earlier in the week were set to be played behind closed doors would be better off to not take place at all with pressure coming from the players syndicate to cancel these games. The League decided that it would be in the best interest of the fans and players to suspend plan indefinitely to avoid the spread of the virus from large crowd gatherings. Portugal currently have 78 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and have not suffered any deaths at this time with one of the infected having completed a full recovery.
Benfica have acquired their first player for next season landing Corinthians midfielder Pedrinho for a reported €20M and signing the 21 year old for five seasons while adding a €120M buy out clause to the players contract. Benfica have been linked with Pedrinho since the winter transfer market but have now only made the move official announcing the players signing earlier today.
Pedrinho has been a member of Brazilian side Corinthians since the age of 14 and joined the main squad in early 2017, he has appeared in 92 games across all competitions scoring eight goals while adding another eight assists. Pedrinho will return to Sao Paulo and compete with Corinthians in the Brazilian Serie A until the transfer window re-opens in Portugal during the summer months.
Benfica have released record profits for the first half of the 2019/20 financial year, the current Portuguese league champions earned €104.2M in the first six months of the fiscal year. The figures represent a 639.8% increase from the same period last year with Joao Felix's record smashing summer transfer a big part of the profits. This is the sixth consecutive year that Benfica have recorded a profit in the first six months of the fiscal year with the club bringing in a revenue of €244.3M from July 1/19 to December 31/19, in that same period the clubs operating income also increased by 8.8% from the same time last year to €101.9M. Benfica's current net debt now stands at €45.8M which the club has decreased by a whopping €189.5M since the summer of 2016. These latest figures should see the club once again exceed the €300M mark in revenue for the second consecutive year when the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2020.
/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_bc8228b6673f488aa253bbcb03c80ec5/internal_photos/bs/2020/c/D/5w8ZqmTZOdl5gxRmD1gg/pedrinho-7-thumbnail.jpg "Pedrino")