Benfica finish the league season with a Lisbon derby against cross town rival Sporting with just pride on the line for the club as the club ends the season in second spot. Benfica will take on Sporting
tomorrow at 9:15pm WEST at the Luz and will dress
20 players from the list below.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Mile Svilar, Ivan Zlobin
Defenders- Tomas Tavares, Jardel, Ruben Dias, Ferro, Nuno Tavares, Andre Almeida, Joao Ferreira
Midfielders- Chiquinho, Pizzi, Rafa Silva, Samaris, Florentino, Zivkovic, Gabriel, Julian Weigl, Frano Cervi
Forwards- Carlos Vinicius, Jota, Dyego Sousa, Seferovic, Goncalo Ramos
Uruguayan International Edinson Cavani's representatives have had discussions with Benfica over the potential move of the 33 year old free agent striker to the club next season and after the meetings ended, Benfica have come to the conclusion that Cavani's asking price of €20M per season is just to rich for the clubs coffers. The former PSG man is garnering interest from a variety of Europe's big clubs but his current salary demands will whittle the competition to just a rare few clubs. Benfica are looking to land a striker for next season with Sevilla's Carlos Fernandez and Rio Ave's Taremi's names also linked with the club.
Jorge Jesus arrival at Benfica has started the rumour mill of players that are linked with a move to the Lisbon side from Brazil's Campeonato. The latest player to be linked with Benfica is Fluminense's right back Gilberto. Brazil's Jornal O Dia is reporting Jesus was interested in moving the 27 year old Gilberto to his old club Flamengo and with his move back to Benfica for next season, Gilberto remains high on the coaches want list. Benfica President Luis Filipe Vieira has been given a list of reinforcements by Jesus and Gilberto's name is said to be near the top. Fluminense currently hold 50% of the players rights with Fiorentina holding the remainder and any move by Benfica would most likely involve the purchase of the player outright. Gilberto has spent the past three and a half seasons in Brazil after appearing in only 21 games in Europe split between Fiorentina, Hellas Verona and Latina Calcio. A move by Benfica for Gilberto would see current starter Andre Almeida move into a back up role with the club and have youngster Tomas Tavares shift down to play important minutes in his development with the clubs B squad. Gilberto joins the names of Bruno Henrique, Gerson, Leo Pereira and Lucas Verissimo as Brazilian league players linked with Benfica move.
