Rafa Silva dropped from Portugal squad with injury

Benfica forward Rafa Silva has been dropped by the Portuguese national side after failing his medical as the Selecao prepare for a friendly and World Cup 2022 qualifier over the next week. Rafa is reported to have suffered a right gonalgia injury in Benfica's game on Sunday against Portimonense, which is the swelling and bruising of his right knee, the timeline on how long Rafa will be out is reported to be about a week or two. Rafa joins Haris Seferovic and Valentino Lazaro in Benfica's infirmary, who are also out with muscle injuries.

Benfica perfect run comes to an end

On a night where across Europe some of the continent's top clubs suffered losses in their respective leagues, Benfica had their perfect start to the season come to an abrupt end at the hands of Portimonense 1-0 in front of their largest crowd since the start of the pandemic. Benfica remains in top spot in the league but have had their lead cut to just one point as the league rests for upcoming international play.

Benfica had chance after chance turned away in the first half by Portimonense keeper Samuel who had seven saves on the net and after coming off one of their biggest victories in many seasons over Barcelona during the week. Benfica looked to just run out of gas in the second half conceding a corner kick at the 65th minute mark. The loss is Benfica's first in a competitive match since losing in the final of the Taca de Portugal in May of this year.

Darwin on way to becoming most wanted man in Europe

Benfica acquired Darwin Nunez from second division side Almeria last summer for a club record €24M and the though was that the club had found a diamond in the rough but although Nunez's season started off well, injuries and inconsistency plagued his first campaign with the Lisbon side. The 22 year old appeared in 44 games across all competitions with the club scoring 14 goals while setting up another 12 but Nunez scored just 2 goals for the club from mid February on.

Fast forward to the 2021/22 season and the 22 year old seems to have found his place in a front trio with newly acquired striker Roman Yaremchuk and Portuguese speedster Rafa Silva. Nunez has scored six goals in his first seven games and none more impressive then his brace performance against Barcelona in this past weeks Champions League, which caught the attention of many of Europe's top clubs. Benfica have already stated that Darwin will go no where during the season but can the club resist the millions that will be thrown it's way during the summer transfer months?

It is not expected that Darwin will keep up his torrid pace to start the season but a more consistent performance could see the youngster become the second all time highest player sold by the club when the summer of 2022 arrives. Nunez has already been linked with clubs, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Inter in the past week and it is likely that more of Europe's big names will be added as the season progresses. Darwin's age and field position could be worth a range of €60M-€80M, a hefty amount that Benfica could add to it's coffers and strengthen the clubs finances, but for now let us sit back and enjoy the performance of the Uruguayan who is slowly becoming Europe's most wanted man.