Benfica have signed a new contract with central defender Ruben Dias, the new contract will take Dias to the end of the 2023/24 season and has a new buy out clause of €100M, an increase from his former clause by €34M. Dias has been linked in recent weeks with a move to Tottenham and the contract would add more money to Benfica's coffers if any club were to match Dias' new clause.
Dias is another graduate of Benfica's famous Seixal academy and has been a member of the clubs main squad since the beginning of 2017/18 season. Dias has appeared in 103 games for Benfica across all competitions, scoring on ten occasions while adding three helpers.
Benfica return to action in the Portuguese League and get set to take on Maritimo as they look to continue atop Portugal. Benfica last played a league game on November 9 against Santa Clara. Benfica
play Maritimo at home today at 6pm WEST.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Ivan Zlobin
Defenders- Ferro, Alex Grimaldo, Jardel, Tomas Tavares, Andre Almeida, Nuno Tavares, Ruben Dias
Midfielders- Pizzi, Franco Cervi, Gedson Fernandes, Gabriel, Florentino, Taarabt Chiquinho, Caio Lucas
Forwards- Jota, Carlos Vinicius, Raul de Tomas
Former Benfica player Joao Felix has been awarded the 2019 Golden Boy Award following in the footsteps of Renato Sanches who won the award in 2016 as the second Benfica academy player and second Portuguese player to have been given the honour.
The Golden Boy award commenced in 2003 by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport and is now voted on by 11 other newspapers across Europe, in total 40 journalists vote on the award. The Golden Boy award is given to a young footballer under the age of 21 who plays in Europe and who is perceived to have been the most impressive during the calendar year. The journalists vote on the Top 5 players with 10 points being awarded to the top vote getter, 7 points for second, 5 points for third, 3 for fourth and 1 for fifth. Joao Felix who made a move from Benfica to Atletico Madrid this summer for a club record €126M scored 18 goals for Benfica last season in all competitions and has chipped in two goals for Atletico this season before suffering an ankle injury. Felix was also a member of Portugal's 2019 League of Nations title.
Voting Results for the 2019 Golden Boy Award:
1- Joao Felix (Benfica/Atletico Madrid) 332 points
Country - Portugal
2- Jadon Sancho (B. Dortmund) 175 points
Country - England
3- Kai Havertz (B. Leverkusen) 75 points
Country - Germany
4- Erling Haaland (Red Bull Salzburg) 74 points
Country - Norway
5- Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax/Juventus) 71 points
Country - Netherlands
