Benfica have quiet winter transfer window

Benfica have had a quiet winter transfer window, leaving their current squad mainly intact as the majority of most major league transfer windows have closed except for the Russian, Ukraine and Swiss leagues who have days to weeks before they close their own windows. Benfica did see the departure of a trio of players on loan until seasons end with Gedson Fernandes joining Rizespor, Ferro landing at Hadjuk Split and Pizzi moving to Istanbul Basaksehir.

Pizzi the long time Benfica midfielder and former league MVP has seen his playing time diminish this season to the point that he was barely seeing any action while Gedson and Ferro barely even touched their cleats to grass with the club this season. The conclusion of these moves, is that they will have little to any effect on the current squad and will give the club the opportunity to see what they have in their own systems as youngsters Paulo Bernardo and Henrique Araujo get a look.

Pizzi set to depart Benfica for Turkey

Long time Benfica midfielder Pizzi is set to depart the club on loan for the remainder of the season and join Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir. The 32 year old was left off today's squad list for the clubs league game and is expected in Istanbul over the next few hours to complete the move to the 2019/20 Turkish Champions who currently sit in fifth spot in the league.

Pizzi has fallen out of favour this season starting two league games out of twenty the club has played thus far, having not been a first choice of former manager Jorge Jesus or current intern manager Nelson Verissimo. Pizzi has made 30 appearances for Benfica this season across all competitions, scoring twice while setting up four goals. He has played a total of 943 minutes which averages out to about 35 minutes per game.

Pizzi first joined Benfica in the summer of 2013 from Atletico Madrid for €14M and spent his first season on loan at Espanyol before sticking with the Lisbon club since that time. Pizzi has appeared in 360 games with Benfica across all competitions, scoring 94 goals while setting up an additional 96. Pizzi was named the league's most valuable player during the 2016/17 season and has captured ten trophies, including four league titles in his time with Benfica.  

 

Benfica searching for Portuguese manager

Benfica President Rui Costa has announced that he is currently searching for a manager to take over the club for next season and his preference is a manager who is Portuguese and understands the game in Portugal. Costa speaking to reporters is expecting the manager to be able to work with the clubs youth as he looks to use more Seixal academy youngsters and is looking at reducing the squad numbers to a more work able number.

Costa has taken a lot of heat of late as Benfica continue to spiral this season with no end in sight and with the club set to take on Ajax in the Champions League round of 16 over the next few weeks. The expectations are as low as they have been in recent memory for the club to advance to the quarter-final stage. Benfica recently lost in the Taca da Liga Final to city rivals Sporting and their form leaves alot to be desired.

Costa is also looking at changing the clubs focus on transfers as he plans to look within the league for reinforcements before looking abroad as has been the case over the past few seasons. Costa looks set to remove all memory of Jorge Jesus' second stint with the club which saw the club spend a record haul on players which produced no return on their investment with the club failing to capture any hardware.