Benfica moving out players before the deadline

Benfica continue to work on moving out players that Jorge Jesus has no intention of utilizing this season and with the transfer window set to close tomorrow the club is hard at work. Today saw Benfica send out striker Carlos Vinicius on a two year loan to PSV in which the club will receive €2.5M up front and PSV have an option to make the move permanent for a reported €10M for 50% of Vinicius' rights.

Benfica moved Florentino Luis to Getafe also on loan for the season in which Benfica will receive €500K for the loan and Getafe have the option to buy 50% of Florentino's rights for €10M at seasons end. The moves didn't stop there as forward Jota is reported to have completed his medical and will join Celtic for the season on loan, Celtic will have the option to make the move permanent at seasons end for €7.5M of 75% of Jota's playing rights.

Although Benfica had a busy day they are still looking for homes for Chiquinho, Gabriel, Samaris and Ferro before the deadline window shuts until January but have yet to agree to terms with any clubs to move the players. Chiquinho has been linked in recent days with Italian side Torino, while Gabriel is linked with a move to Brazilian side Sao Paulo.

Taarabt suspended until October by league

The Portuguese League has announced the suspension of Benfica midfielder Adel Taarabt for 23 days and 2 games for an incident that took place in the Taca de Portugal final against Braga back in May. The incident involved a red card that Taarabt received at the end of the encounter in which he was unhappy by a tackle received at the hands of Braga's Lucas Piazon and proceeded to initiate a melee that saw several players on both sides push and shove one another.

Taarabt will first serve his 23 day suspension which would end on September 19 and then serve his two game suspension. In total Taarabt will miss five league games and due to International competition in both September and October will not be available again until October 24 when the club travels to take on Vizela. Braga's former keeper and technical team member Eduardo was also suspended for 30 days for his part in the incident.

Benfica Champions League group revealed

Benfica have learned their fate when it comes to their UEFA Champions League campaign and will be a part of Group A along with Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Dynamo Kiev in a very competitive group as the club looks to advance to the round of 16 campaign in the new year. Benfica's group schedule looks like this

 

Game 1- September 14  - at Dynamo Kiev

Game 2- September 29 - vs Barcelona

Game 3- October 20 - vs Bayern Munich

Game 4- November 2 - at Bayern Munich

Game 5- November 23 - at Barcelona

Game 6- December 8 - vs Dynamo Kiev