Benfica bring Goncalo Guedes home

In an unprecedented move, Benfica have agreed to a loan with Wolverhampton and are bringing home Goncalo Guedes, six years after his departure to PSG for €30M. The Seixal academy product arrived in Lisbon earlier today on a private jet from Birmingham after just five months at Wolves and will be presented as a reinforcement for Roger Schmidt's squad for the remainder of the season tomorrow.

The 26 year old is hoping a move to familiar grounds will help relaunch his career, that has currently stalled while at Wolverhampton this season. The loan deal is said to not include an option to make the move permanent at the conclusion of the season but is a huge win for the club never the less. Guedes has spent time at PSG, Valencia and Wolverhampton since moving away from the club.

Guedes last appeared in a game for Benfica on January 14, 2017 when the club hosted Boavista in a 3-3 draw and had appeared in 68 games for Benfica across all competitions, scoring eleven goals while setting up sixteen. Guedes is comfortable playing a variety of forward positions and should fit into Schmidt's club system quite well.

Benfica have many moves to make before window closes

The winter transfer window has two weeks left to go and Benfica have a lot of work to do before that deadline arrives, the club has already acquired a pair of northern European youngsters in Casper Tengstedt and Andreas Schjelderup but are hoping to land a midfielder and a keeper before the window closes with Flamengo keeper Hugo Souza's name being bounced around as an option.

Benfica will also look at moving out some players in areas where the club has an abundance to chose from. One of those positions is the center back spot which currently has six players available after the return from injury of three of those defenders. Benfica is looking at moving on from John Brooks and are set to loan one of Lucas Verissimo or Joao Victor to help clear the clutter. Helton Leite is also linked with a departure to Turkisk club Alanyaspor.

The most interesting rumour of all may just be what is coming out of Portugal today, Benfica is said to be in talks with English side Watford in what could turn into a loan move that would see 20 year old striker Henrique Araujo depart the club for the third division side, not much has been said if the loan deal would include an option to make the move permanent but I for one hope that is not the case.     

Benfica and Sporting draw in Lisbon encounter

It was a fierce encounter in Lisbon by two clubs who's stadiums sit just under three kilometers apart as Benfica hosted their arch rivals Sporting at a packed Estadio da Luz last night. Benfica came from behind on two separate occasions with a pair of goals from Goncalo Ramos to earn a 2-2 draw against Sporting.

The visitors opened the scoring in the first half when a Marcus Edwards cross went in for an own goal off of Benfica defender Alexander Bah but Benfica did not take long to equalize the game before halftime as Goncalo Ramos chipped in a Rafa Silva pass for his league leading 10th goal of the season just eight minutes before the half.

Sporting would then be awarded a controversial penalty kick just seven minutes into the second half when Antonio Silva took down Paulinho in the box, Pedro Goncalves would convert the penalty to restore the visiting Lions lead once again. Benfica intensified their play looking for the equalizer and it would come once again from the feet of Ramos who would this time convert a Grimaldo pass into the box to bring the game level once more.

Benfica pushed on for the victory but it was not in the cards this game as the final whistle sounded, the club saw their lead atop Portugal cut to four points with plenty of football still to go this season. The emotions of the game carried into the tunnel between the two clubs, so much so that Benfica security needed to get involved. Benfica will continue their quest for the title next week as they travel to the Azores to take on Santa Clara next Saturday.