Julian Weigl wants to stay in Germany

Benfica midfielder Julian Weigl who is currently on loan in Germany with Borussia Mochengladbach did a recent interview this weekend with Redaktion Netzwerk and admitted his desire to remain in Germany and not return to Benfica when his loan deal is up at the end of the season. Weigl stated that he feels good at Mochengladbach and has his eyes set on a return to the German national side.

The 27 year old Weigl joined Benfica from Dortmund in the winter of 2020 for €20M and appeared in 115 games across all competitions, scoring five goals while setting up an additional five before moving back to Germany in the summer. Benfica are said to be looking for €10M to €15M to allow the move to become permanent.

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.