Greek club Olympiakos are interested in agreeing to a loan deal with Benfica for youngster Jota but the Greek side are said to not want a purchase option as part of the loan deal. Benfica who normally prefer that any of their player loans be negotiated with a purchase option, could insist that without the option included the deal will not move ahead. Benfica are said to be currently looking for a club where Jota can get regular playing time with the hopes that Jota's performance goes over well and that the club can cash out on the 21 year old. The 44 time Greek League champions are currently led by Portuguese manager Pedro Martins and also can count Ruben Semedo, Jose Sa and Cafu in their ranks of Portuguese players. Jota has appeared in 19 games for Benfica this season across all competitions and has scored twice while adding three helpers.
Benfica loanees Bruno Varela and Jhonder Cadiz are set to return back to the club after the Dutch and French leagues had their seasons cancelled due to the COVID-19. Varela who returns from Ajax after spending the past one and half seasons with the club as their back up keeper, appeared in only three games with the main club across all competitions. Varela who spent the 2017/18 season as Benfica's number one keeper has a contract with the club until the summer of 2022 but is currently not in Benfica's plans going forward and will more then likely be loaned out once again next season. Cadiz who joined Benfica from Setubal this past summer has yet to appear with the Portuguese club and was loaned to French side Dijon for the season. Cadiz appeared in 22 games for Dijon across all competitions scoring three goals while adding three helpers. Cadiz's role with the club going forward is a bit more uncertain as Benfica may look at retaining the players services depending on what summer sales take place.
Barcelona have joined the race to land Benfica's central defender Ruben Dias according to reports from Catalan paper Mundo Deportivo who states that Dias is one of the names on the club's scouting agenda for some time. Barcelona joins the likes of Manchester City who are also monitoring the player. The paper also states that Benfica President Luis Filipe Vieira wants Dias' €100M buy out clause met in any negotiation and is not open to sit at the table to discuss the players move otherwise. Dias has appeared in 124 games across all competitions for Benfica, scoring eleven times and setting up another five since becoming a regular starter with the club during the 2017/18 season.
