Benfica closing in on move for Velez winger

Benfica are set to beat a couple of European giants in Real Madrid and Barcelona for the signature of 17 year old Argentinian winger Gianluca Prestianni, who is currently applying his trade with Velez Sarsfield in Argentina.

Velez's newly elected President, Fabian Berlanda, confirms that the club has received an offer from Benfica for Prestianni and that they will analyze the formal bid from the Lisbon club, which is said to be in the area of €8M for 85% of players rights plus bonuses.

Prestianni is considered one of the best young talents currently playing in Argentina and has this season appeared in 33 games across all competitions for Velez, scoring 3 goals in 1660 minutes of action.

Benfica win in dramatic fashion to move into top spot

After imposing their first defeat on Sporting 2-1 at the Luz, Benfica rose to the top of the league table, with the same 28 points as Sporting, who dropped to second place, and three more than FC Porto. Benfica can thank the victory to a pair of goals in added time that sent the home crowd into a whirlwind frenzy.

Viktor Gyokeres gave Sporting the lead just before the 45th minute, with Joao Neves equalizing at 90th minute +4 and Casper Tengstedt winning it at 90th minute +7, when Sporting were playing with one player less after Goncalo Inacio received his second yellow card of the game in the 51st minute.

Benfica continue to not play with their best form to date but have now squeezed out two victories at the Luz over both Sporting and FC Porto this season, the first time they have accomplished such a feat in over 10 years.

Benfica now heads into the international break in the top spot in Portugal, hoping that this dramatic comeback victory will kickstart the club's resurgence.

Benfica rumours in Abel Ferreira far fetched

According to reports from the Brazilian newspaper Lance, Benfica is said to be interested in the services of current Palmeiras bench boss Abel Ferreira due to the club's current string of inconsistent performances, especially in the Champions League, where they have lost all four games while scoring just once.

Current manager Roger Schmidt is just in his second season at the club but has a contract that runs into the summer of 2026 after receiving an extension during last season from his original two year pact. While Abel's contract at Palmeiras goes to the end of 2024.

Benfica were previously linked with Abel last summer before acquiring Schmidt before the start of last season, after his contract with PSV ended. A move away from Schmidt before the end of his contract could prove quite costly for Benfica, as the German currently earns €4M per season.

Schmidt has led Benfica to the Portuguese League title in 2022/23 and captured the Portuguese Super Cup to start the season.