Is Jesus to blame for the Seixal exodus?

The exodus of Benfica academy players since the return of Jorge Jesus to Benfica has a lot of Benfica fans in arms as the academies best players move to find playing time elsewhere with the veteran manager not interested in providing any minutes with the main squad as he looks to more seasoned players to fill those roles. Benfica fans fear that even though the majority of loans do not include buy options at their conclusion, most of these players will never don the clubs jersey again a la Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo. 

Many fans recall Jesus' last run with the club and although successful the clubs youth system took a hit in development and reward with many of the academies big names providing a smaller financial return, when you look at Bernardo's and Cancelo's sales, which amounted to a combined €30M. Would the likes of Ruben Dias, Nelson Semedo, Renato Sanches, Victor Lindelof, Goncalo Guedes or Joao Felix have been so successful with the club if Jesus was on the sidelines? Would these six have provided the club with an infusion of €330M in sales with Jesus patrolling the club?

These are all questions that we look at with the current exodus of the academies best players via loan. Benfica have loaned defensive midfielder Florentino Luis to Monaco, winger Jota to Real Valladolid, right back Tomas Tavares to Alaves, center back Pedro Alvaro to Belenenses, attacking midfielder David Tavares to Moreirense and the clubs most talented prospect Tiago Dantas to Bayern Munich with the last loan deal unknown if a buy clause is included or not. The clubs current crown jewel, striker Goncalo Ramos is still with the club but will he be utilized or squandered by Jesus, this question is still unknown and the answer to this question could see the white towels arrive outside the stadium quicker then any would anticipate and this could be a first for a club that may just be sitting atop the league. So is Jesus to blame for the Seixal exodus? The fans will answer that shortly.

Benfica center backs look old and broken

Benfica have moved on from their young starting center back and Portugal international this week when Ruben Dias was sold to Man City for €68M. Benfica replaced Dias with a slow aging veteran in Nicolas Otamendi, who got his first start for Benfica alongside another aging veteran in Jardel who was in replacing another aging veteran in Jan Vertonghen who is already out with an injury, suffered in Week 2 of action. Get the idea? The three center backs aged 34 (Jardel), 33 (Vertonghen) and 32 (Otamendi), could make this a very long season for the Lisbon side all on the account of Jesus and his insistence on veteran center backs. 

The issue has now gotten more complicated when Jardel was replaced in the second half of today's game by Ferro after suffering another injury to the long list of injuries that have kept the Benfica captain out of the lineup on a regular basis the past few seasons. Ferro who is the only young body at age 23 on this current Benfica squad that plays center back, just only a few weeks ago was being mentioned as a player not needed by Jesus and set to leave the club on loan. Benfica currently have only two center backs healthy in Otamendi and Ferro and will need to look at making a move in the transfer market to shore up the back line with none of its current B squad players ready to play a pivotal role with the club this season.
 

The one name that continues to be linked to Benfica is former Jesus player Ruben Semedo. The 26 year old Olympiacos defender is said to want to make the move to Benfica but both clubs continue to dance around when it comes to the sale price with Benfica not wanting to get close to the €15M asking price. The club may not have a choice but to bite the bullet as it sits one injury away from having to move Samaris or Weigl to the center back position on a full time basis. Benfica could also look within the Portuguese League with the transfer window remaining open until October 25 in Portugal and turn to Rio Ave's Toni Borevkovic or Famalicao's Riccieli if they are looking to spend under €5M to shore up the spot with a young talented player as the current old and broken center backs seems to be a flawed approach.

Benfica finds out Europa League group

  

Benfica have learned their Europa League group earlier today and will be joined by Scottish side Rangers, Polish club Lech Poznan and Belgian side Standard Liege. Benfica will kick off their Europa League campaign on October 22 in Poland against Poznan.

Benfica's Europa League schedule:

October 22 at Lech Poznan 

October 29 vs Standard Liege

November 5 vs Rangers

November 26 at Rangers

December 3 vs Lech Poznan

December 10 at Standard Liege