My personal all time Starting XI for Benfica

I have been a Benfica fan for as long as I can remember, the love of the club started at a young age in a household full of Benfica fans. The first football club that I watched live in a stadium, the first football club that brought me joy and at times tears. Benfica was in my blood and I have enjoyed every minute of the ups and downs.

Looking back as far as I can remember there were always certain players that stood out to me, players that I wanted to see in the starting eleven every game and not understanding at a young age that players needed to rest and could not always dress in the colours that I loved. The disappointment of injuries and the departure of these set of players pulled at my heart strings throughout my childhood and to some degree into my adult life.

Benfica are a club that means so much to so many people not only in Portugal but around the globe and to be a fan of this club has provided all of us with cherished moments. We all have our favourite players and wish that these players had a chance to play all at the same time on the field together but alas for people that have been fans for decades this is not always possible.

We all have our favourite and who we think is our best Benfica staring XI in our lifetime and these are mine going back to 1990 in a 4-4-2:

Enzo Fernandez set to join Benfica this week

The exit of River Plate from the Copa Libertadores last week is a blessing in disguise for Benfica as the club will see the arrival of their newly acquired midfielder Enzo Fernandez this week, as opposed to a later date if River Plate was to remain in the tournament. Benfica will announce the acquisition of Fernandez after his arrival in Lisbon having acquired the 21 year old last month for €10M plus an additional €8M in addons.

Fernandez was caught at the Buenos Aires airport before his departure to Portugal earlier today and had the opportunity to speak to journalists making sure that all knew of his excitement to be joining Benfica. Fernandez also stated that it has been a childhood dream of playing in Europe and he is prepared to give his all for Benfica as he always has with River Plate.

Fernandez is considered by many as one of the more exciting up and coming Argentinian players and a potential future star with the national side. Benfica hope to continue to grow the player to his full potential as they continue their preparation for the upcoming season.

Sporting want €30M from Joao Mario move to Benfica

Sporting have filed a lawsuit against Benfica midfielder Joao Mario in Lisbon courts, seeking €30M from the player that it feels it is owed due to Joao Mario joining Benfica last summer from Inter Milan. Sporting are claiming that Joao Mario joining Benfica violated their original sale terms with Inter back in 2016 which included an anti-rival clause if Joao Mario was sold to another Portuguese club and that Inter and Joao Mario's agreement to terminate the players contract was a work around to avoid paying them the fee.

What is not known at this time is if Sporting will also file a suit against Inter Milan since they state that both the Italian club and Joao Mario agreed to the anti-clause fee of €30M at the time of Joao Mario's sale from Sporting to Inter. The 29 year old is currently enjoying his first camp under new Benfica manager Roger Schmidt and is said to be calm about the labour court filing by his former club and is currently focused on finding a role under his new manager for the upcoming 2022/23 season.