Benfica midfielder Adel Taarabt has turned into a hot commodity across Europe attracting the interest of various clubs across the continent. Taarabt has been linked with Italian sides Sampdoria and Fiorentina along with Russian club Zenit and Greek side Olympiakos for a switch this upcoming season. Taarabt who is signed with Benfica until the summer of 2022, has been used regularly by Jorge Jesus during this preseason and any move for the 31 year old Moroccan would only occur if Benfica were to acquire another midfielder during the transfer window.
Taarabt joined Benfica in the summer of 2015 but only started making regular appearances with the club towards the end of the 2018/19 season after Bruno Lage took over the club as its manager. Taarabt since then has appeared in 45 games for Benfica across all competitions, scoring once while adding three helpers. Benfica would be looking to add between €10M-€15M to depart with Taarabt services from any interested party.
Benfica and Olympiakos are work on hammering out an agreement that would see the return of Ruben Semedo to Portugal, this time playing for his former clubs arch rivals in Lisbon. Benfica are pressing to acquire the defender for the least amount possible due to the fact that Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest are owned by the same person and the club is awaiting the final installment from their sale of Joao Carvalho to Nottingham Forest a couple of years back and are entitled to 50% of the proceeds of any Olympiakos agreement with Guimaraes for midfielder Pepe Rodrigues who's agent is currently in Greece.
Benfica could end up paying almost nothing to acquire Semedo due to the amounts owed to the club as Jorge Jesus presses to have the deal finalized quickly. The newest questions that could arise with the acquisition of Semedo is if Ruben Dias will depart the club but Jesus is known for his love of central defenders and this may not be the case. The 26 year old Semedo joined Olympiakos in the summer 2019 from Villarreal for €4.5M and appeared in 44 games across all competitions for the Greek champions scoring five goals, it is said Olympiakos are looking for €10M to depart with Semedo.
Benfica continue to look at strengthening their current squad and have turned their attention to Jorge Jesus' former club Flamengo presenting an offer of €30M for the duo of Bruno Henrique and Gerson. Flamengo have not made any formal reply to the offer but behind closed doors it is said that they feel that the initial offer is low for the pair. Gerson was one of the main pillars behind Flamengo's historic run with Jesus and the Benfica manager feels that the 23 year old midfielder could shine with the Lisbon side.
Striker Bruno Henrique also had a fantastic season for Flamengo with Jesus at the helm and the Benfica manager is never short of praise for the 29 year old who was named both the Libertadores and Brazilian Serie A player of the year. The landing of the Flamengo duo would be a major scoop for both club and players, pushing the strength of the club to a higher level as they look for a return to winning not only at home but in Europe.
