Roger Schmidt arrives in Lisbon

Benfica will officially announce the hiring of German manager Roger Schmidt at some point today as the 55 year old has arrived in Lisbon to officially sign his contract with the club. Schmidt will receive a two year deal with an option for a third year as he begins work on bringing the club back from it's current abyss.

The announcement of Schmidt's hiring was delayed by a week due to current Benfica President Rui Costa having tested positive for COVID-19 which made him unavailable to meet with his new manager and announce the hiring of Schmidt. Schmidt arrived this morning at Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport and is eager commence his work at the club.

Benfica make third move of the off season

Benfica announced their third move of the off season acquiring Boavista striker Petar Musa for €5M and signing the 24 year old Croatian to at 5 year deal with an €80M buy out clause. The deal also includes Boavista acquiring 50% of left back Ricardo Mangas playing rights which will now give the Porto club full ownership of the player and they also also receive 50% of defensive midfielder Illija Vukotic playing rights.

Benfica expect to be busy this off season having already moved on from intern manager Nelson Verissimo and hiring his replacement in PSV's German manager Roger Schmidt. Benfica are now looking to bolster there midfield next, already being linked to a host of players from Europe and South America. 

Our original Petar Musa transfer blog from April 2022 ➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️ HERE

Benfica linked to Arsenal keeper

 

Benfica's incoming manager Roger Schmidt is said to be looking for a new keeper at the club who can potentially take over the number one job next season and the latest keeper linked with the Lisbon side is former Arsenal number one and German national Bernd Leno according to reports from Portugal.

The 30 year old Leno had been Arsenal's number one choice since joining the London club in the summer of 2018 but fell into the backup role during this current season. Schmidt is a fan of Leno from their time together at Bayer Leverkusen but Arsenal's price tag of €10M may be too rich for Benfica to pay for a keeper who is not guaranteed to be the clubs starter.