Benfica reach tentative agreement with Roger Schmidt

Benfica have announced that they have reached a principal agreement with current PSV manager Roger Schmidt to take over the club next season with only minor details of the contract to be worked out. Schmidt deal is said to be for two seasons with an option for third which would commence in the summer after his contract with PSV Eindhoven expires.

The 55 year old Schmidt made a name for himself in Austria while in charge of Red Bull Salzburg for two seasons before moving on to lead Bayer Leverkusen in his native Germany for almost three seasons. Schmidt would then head over to Chinese club Beijing Guoan for two seasons before taking over with PSV in the summer of 2020.

Schmidt has captured a variety of trophies during his coaching career from the Austrian league championship during the 2013/14 season to this seasons double trophy haul, winning the Dutch Super Cup and the Dutch Cup at PSV. Schmidt is said to be bringing his number two Jorn Wolf to join his coaching staff at Benfica.

 

Benfica will need to work quick for Neres

Benfica have a great opportunity in front of them presented by the unfortunate situation in the Ukraine as many foreign players look set to depart clubs from the Ukraine and Russia during the summer transfer window. One of those players is 25 year old winger David Neres who just joined Shakhtar Donetsk during the winter window from Ajax for €12M after spending the past five seasons in the organization.

The Brazilian winger is said to be on the wish list of incoming manager Roger Schmidt who got a first hand look at Neres while managing against him while at PSV in the Eredivisie League. Neres has yet to play a game for Shakhtar since joining the club, as the league was in its winter break when the Ukraine was invaded by Russia and had to shutdown operations temporarily.

Benfica do have a trump card in negotiations with Shakhtar as the Ukrainian club have yet to pay the full €17M from their summer acquisition of winger Pedrinho from the Lisbon side. Benfica are hoping that they will be able to unlock the early form of Neres with Ajax before he suffered a severe knee injury that saw him miss almost all of the 2019/20 season. Benfica are not alone in their pursuit of Neres, as Italian giants Juventus have also had their name linked to the player.

Benfica prepared to do what it takes in final four games

With just four games remaining in Benfica's season, the club looks to go out in strong form, while the club still has a slim chance to finish second in the league and get the automatic spot in the Champions League group stage. Benfica would need a bit of help in achieving this outcome as they currently trail Sporting by six points and do not hold the tiebreaker if the two clubs end up level on points at the conclusion of the final four weeks of play.

Benfica will also have their eye on making sure that Darwin Nunez wins the league's golden boot as the 22 year old Uruguayan currently sits atop Portugal with 25 goals which currently gives him a seven goal lead over closest rival, FC Porto's Taremi. If Darwin were to reach the 30 goal mark he would be the first in Portugal to hit that plateau since Benfica's Jonas did so during the 2017/18 season.

Benfica will have a different look next season from the manager off the pitch to the players on it but with four games left in the season we might as well all sit back and enjoy what is left before the summer hiatus.