Benfica looking to bring Joao Felix home for cut rate price

In a shocking turn of events, Benfica is said to be in talks with Barcelona about bringing home Seixal Academy product Joao Felix. Benfica have offered Atletico Madrid €20M to obtain 50% of Felix's pass, while Atletico are open to the move if they are to receive €25M for the same ownership.

This is just five years after Benfica sold Felix to Atletico for a whopping record fee of €127.2M after his breakout performance during the 2018-19 season. Felix, who is still only 24 years old, has had moments of brilliance in his time at Atletico but has fallen out of favour at the club and spent the past season and a half on loan at Chelsea and Barcelona.

The biggest obstacle to Felix returning to his boyhood club could be the salary he currently commands, which is in excess of €4M per season after a contract restructure with Atletico last summer, but after paying Angel di Maria over €9M last season, it may not be as big of an obstacle as some will make you believe.

With Di Maria off the books this year, a return for Felix could make a lot of sense for both parties, as Benfica looks to add to their attack while Felix looks to get what was once a promising career back on track. Felix appeared in 44 games across all competitions for Barcelona last season, scoring ten goals while providing six helpers.

Felix would likely slot into the role that recently departed Rafa Silva held at the club and is also able to play either wing if required by the club. Benfica hopes to rejuvenate Felix's career and may once again get top dollar for a player who just in 2021-22, was named Atletico's player of the year by the club's supporters.

Benfica make long awaited signing official for Pavlidis

Benfica have finally announced the acquisition of AZ Alkmaar striker Vangelis Pavlidis today, acquiring the Greek international for €18M with an additional €2M in add-ons for incentives met. Benfica respected the wishes of AZ Alkmaar to not make the signing official until today, as the Dutch club wanted to move the signing to their new fiscal year budget.

Pavlidis will follow in the footsteps of other Greeks who at one time donned the famous Benfica jersey from: Giorgos Karagounis (2005-2007), Kostas Mitroglou (2015-2017), Andreas Samaris (2014-2021), Konstantinos Katsouranis (2006-2009)  and most recently, keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos (2018-2023).

Pavlidis has been with AZ Alkmaar since the summer of 2021, when he arrived from Dutch club William II. He has also spent time in Germany in his teen years with Borussia Dortmund and VFL Bochum, but never really got a chance with the main squads. The 25 year old scored 34 goals last season across all competitions for Alkmaar, while providing five helpers. and capturing the golden boot in the Eredivisie with 29 goals.

Benfica have signed Pavlidis to a five year contract with a €100M buyout clause and Alkmaar will retain 10% of the players pass on a future sale of the striker. Benfica are hoping that Pavlidis will come in and provide the club with some scoring from the striker position, something they were sorely lacking during last season's disappointing campaign.

Benfica set to open training camp next week

The doors are set to open for preparation for the upcoming season as Benfica gets ready to welcome players to training camp on July 3rd. After a disappointing campaign last season, where the club failed to capture any major silverware other then the season opening Super Cup. The team is eager to turn things around and regain their winning form in 2024-25.

Benfica go into the pre-season with some holes to plug as the departure of Rafa Silva and potentially Angel di Maria takes away two of last season's regular starters, and Benfica will also need to rebuild their left back and striker positions which caused major issues last year before the start of the new season in August.

Benfica are set to announce the acquisition of striker Vangelis Pavlidis on July 1st and are currently said to be working on acquiring a left back to battle for a spot in the starting XI with recent permanent signing Alvaro Fernandez. The club may also need to fill some other areas depending on who is sold during the summer transfer window, with both Antonio Silva and Joao Neves being eyed by some of Europe's bigger clubs.

Benfica may look internally to replace Rafa and Di Maria but may need to shore up some of the other positions, depending on this years summer sales by going outside of the club's confines. While Roger Schmidt will be determined to leave last season's disappointments behind and focus on achieving greatness, proving that he is no one hit wonder.