Benfica suffer devasting injuries in three minutes

Benfica lost a pair of players for the remainder of the season in yesterday's game against Moreirense, where in a span of three minutes both Alexander Bah and Manu Silva went down with knee injuries to their ACL's and were ruled out by the club for the remainder of the season this morning.

The loss of Bah will sting the club much more going forward as the club lacks a seasoned natural right back and will likely turn to Tomas Araujo to cover the position, but his lack of speed against top opponents could prove to be a detriment to the club. 

The club can also turn to Fredrik Aursnes, who played many games last season at the position, or youngster Leandro Santos, but his lack of experience in top flight matches could make him vulnerable.

While Manu just arrived at Benfica a few weeks ago from Guimaraes and appeared in just three games with the club, totaling 136 minutes of action. His loss will be less felt as he barely dipped his toes in the water and Benfica has Florentino and Leandro Barreiro that can slot into the position.

The loss of both players will hurt the squad's depth as they remain alive in every competition remaining from the Liga to the Taca de Portugal to the Champions League.

Benfica plans for Gianluca Prestianni

Benfica turned down plenty of offers for 19 year old Gianluca Prestianni during the winter transfer window, as they settled on working on the Argentinian's development themselves at this stage of his career.

Acquired by Benfica last winter from Velez Sarsfield for €9M, the winger has yet to show the promise that had been expected of him when the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid where linked with acquiring his services before the Lisbon club made the move.

Bruno Lage has yet to use Prestianni since taking over coaching duties from Roger Schmidt in September but has the youngster training with the main squad and available to play in games with the club's B team in which he has appeared in three games to date.

Benfica are counting on Prestianni to develop into a fundamental piece of the squad over the years, which would turn into another cash cow at the cash register if he is to fulfill his potential.

Benfica have a busy 24 hours in transfer market

Benfica decided to strengthen their squad just at the deadline making three moves to their main squad in the past 24 hours.

Benfica first added another striker, this time going with a veteran attacker in Como's 31 year old Andrea Belotti who arrived on loan to the club for the remainder of the season. The Euro 2020 winner has had a tough couple of years as he has battled injuries and form but Benfica are hoping he can find his goal scoring days while at Torino.

Next up, Benfica made a surprising move in acquiring Braga winger Bruma for €6.5M and signing him until the summer of 2028. Bruma has been a key contributor at Braga this season appearing in 31 games across all competitions, he has scored 12 goals while providing 9 helpers and Benfica will hope to see the 30 year old continue his great form while at the club.

Benfica finished the day adding some depth at the left back position with the acquisition from Roma of Samuel Dahl on loan for the remainder of the season with an option to buy for €8M. Dahl has not seen much action with Roma having appeared in only 240 minutes of action.

Look for Benfica to make a couple of subtractions from the squad with other countries transfer windows still open. The likely players to depart are striker Arthur Cabral and winger Benjamin Rollheiser who have interest from a host of Brazilian clubs.