Deal between Benfica and Galatasaray closed for Seferovic

Benfica and Turkish side Galatasaray have agreed on a loan deal for 30 year old Swiss striker Haris Seferovic which should see Seferovic depart to Istanbul over the next couple of days. Galatasaray will be responsible for Seferovic's full salary this season and the deal will have an automatic buy option which would be triggered for €3.5M if Seferovic appears in 15 games during the 2022/23 season.

Seferovic joined Benfica during the summer of 2017 on a free transfer and has appeared in 187 games for the club across all competitions, scoring 74 goals while setting up an additional 24. Seferovic won the golden boot in Portugal during the 2018/19 season with 23 goals and was the runner up for the award during the 2020/21 season with 22 goals. Seferovic has won one League Championship and two Super Cups while a member of Benfica.

Benfica manager looking for one more striker

Newly appointed Benfica manager Roger Schmidt is looking to see the club add a prolific striker to the fold before the transfer window closes over the next few weeks. With the departure of Darwin Nunez and the likely departures of Haris Seferovic and Goncalo Ramos, this would leave Schmidt with the options of Roman Yaremchuk, Henrique Araujo, Roger Pinho and newly acquired Petar Musa in the fold.

The German manager would like to see the club invest in a striker in the mold of Darwin, who is fast and has a good ability to finish. Schmidt is also open to the idea of adding a couple of other players to the squad, preferably in the midfield and in net. Benfica have already added six new reinforcements this summer, having spent €46.8M in those acquisitions with only Mihailo Ristic signing on a free transfer.

Benfica is set to commence their quest for a spot in this upcoming seasons Champions League group stage in the next month and will learn their third qualifying round opponents this week.

Benfica linked to Lyon midfielder Aouar

Benfica are linked once again with Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar according to reports coming from France, just one day after Benfica President Rui Costa announced that the club was far from done during the current transfer window of making moves to improve the club for the upcoming 2022/23 season. The 24 year old Aouar has come up through the ranks of the French club and made his first appearance with the main squad in 2016. 

Aouar has appeared in 214 games across all competitions for Lyon, scoring 40 goals while setting up 35 assists. The Frenchman was seen as the next big thing but his career went the way of his club who have slid away from contention in France. Benfica are not alone in their interest of Aouar with Spanish side Real Betis also being linked with the midfielder, Lyon are ready to move on from the player for a reported €10M.

Benfica also announced earlier today that they would be loaning center back Ferro to Dutch club Vitesse for the season.