Friday, December 11, 2020

Benfica potential opponents in Europa League round of 32

Benfica Blog
Benfica ended their Europa League group campaign on Thursday with a 2-2 draw against Standard Liege to finish second in their respective group behind Scottish side Rangers. Benfica will now have a more difficult path in the round of 32 as there next opponent will come from group winners and the four higher seed third place finishers from the Champions League. The draw for the round of 32 will take place on December 14.

The 15 clubs that Benfica could draw on Monday:

Man United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Leicester City, AC Milan, Napoli, Roma, Ajax, PSV, Bayern Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, Villarreal, Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk.


Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Benfica's search for center back takes them to Turkey

Benfica Blog
With the January transfer window set to open in less then four weeks, Benfica continue their search for a center back to add to the club as they look to strengthen the squad. Benfica have recently been in talks with Brazilian club Santos for defender Lucas Verissimo but have not presented terms to that liking of Santos board and reports now coming out of Turkey have Benfica linked to Trabzonspor center back Vitor Hugo who joined the Turkish side in October from Palmeiras for €3.2M, signing a four year contract. The 29 year old Hugo has appeared in seven games since joining Trabzonspor and is in his second stint in Europe after spending a spell with Fiorentina from 2017-2019. Benfica manager Jorge Jesus hopes to have a few reinforcements when January comes and Hugo is just the latest in what is becoming a long list of center backs linked to the club.


Monday, December 7, 2020

Benfica look to newly acquired Boavista right back

Benfica Blog
Benfica continue to search for an adequate replacement on the right side of the back four and reports out of Portugal have the club looking into newly acquired Boavista right back Reggie Cannon. Boavista acquired Cannon this past summer from Major League Soccer club FC Dallas for €2.5M and the American international has adapted well to the Portuguese League appearing in all nine regular season games for Boavista. With regular starter Andre Almeida out for a few more months injured, the clubs only options are Gilberto and Diogo Goncalves who is learning a new position. Jorge Jesus would like to add another option at the right back position as early as January and Benfica have the 22 year old Cannon in their sights. Boavista are said to be looking for around €10M to move Cannon have already turned down a €5M offer from an unnamed European club.