Rodrigo Pinho will be a Benfica player next season after the club and player have come to an agreement on making the move to the Lisbon side in the summer. The 29 year old striker is coming to the end of his contract with Maritimo in six months and was free to negotiate with any club, Benfica and Pinho had been in discussions since the start of the winter transfer window. The deal is rumoured to be for five seasons but has not yet been disclosed. Benfica will be Pinho's fourth Portuguese club, with the striker also having stints at Braga and Nacional. Pinho has appeared in 111 games for Maritimo across all competitions since joining the club in the summer of 2017 and has scored 41 goals.
Benfica have finally landed sought after Santos defender Lucas Verissimo after months of the central defender being linked with a move to the club. The agreement for the 25 year is said to be for €6.5M to be paid in three installments with the first part of the payment taking place upon the players departure to Portugal. The agreement will also keep Verissimo at Santos until the end of the Copa Libertadores 2020 tournament with the finals set to take place on January 30, Santos are currently in the semi-finals.
Verissimo has been with Santos' main squad since the 2016 season and has appeared in 130 games for the club across all competitions over that time, scoring three goals. Santos President Andreas Rueda signed the transfer documentation earlier today and the club now awaits for Benfica President Luis Filipe Vieira's signature to make the transfer between the two clubs firm. With the arrival of Verissimo, Jorge Jesus may look to go with a system that plays three center backs pushing his wing backs more forward in what would be a 3-5-2 formation.
Benfica's Week 12 game against Santa Clara has been postponed due to poor weather which caused havoc to the pitch as shown in the picture above. The game was called off after just five minutes of play after players complained of flooding on parts of the field and referee Helder Malheiro taking the players safety into consideration decided it was in the best interest of all to not continue the game under these conditions. The league has rescheduled the game for tomorrow at 5pm WEST.
