Benfica set price point for Florentino sale

Benfica is all ears on incoming offers for defensive midfielder Florentino Luis with the arrival of Leonardo Barreiro, who is suited to play the same role. The Lisbon club is open to moving on from Florentino if the right offer is received from an outside club.

Everton is said to be leading a pack of clubs that are interested in Florentino but have yet to get to Benfica's current asking price of €30M. Now the price would be negotiable under the right circumstances, but Benfica is in no hurry to negotiate a lower price at this time.

Florentino is another member of Benfica's famous Seixal Academy, joining the Eagles when he was a mere 11 years old. He has appeared in 131 games across all competitions with the club, scoring once while providing four helpers.

Florentino has also spent seasons on loan with Monaco and Getafe throughout his Benfica career. Florentino has captured two league championships and two Super Cups in his time at the club while also being a member of Portugal's U17 and U19 European title winners.

Benfica linked once again with AZ Alkmaar striker

Benfica will be looking for another striker when the summer transfer window opens, as it looks to find a forward who can not only score but also insert himself into games with authority, something it was clearly lacking last season.

The four strikers that Benfica used this past season, Arthur Cabral, Marcos Leonardo, Casper Tengstedt and Petar Musa, combined for a total of 28 goals across all competitions. Goncalo Ramos scored 27 goals all by himself during the 2022-23 campaign, so you can see why the club is going to the well one more time this summer.

A familiar name has reappeared on the list of potential suitors that the club will be looking at and that is AZ Alkmaar striker Vangelis Pavlidis, who the club was linked to last summer before acquiring Arthur Cabral from Fiorentina.

The 25 year old Greek striker just finished his best season as a member of Alkmaar since joining them in the summer of 2021. A season that saw Pavlidis score 33 goals across all competitions, six more than all of Benfica's options in 2023-24.

Pavlidis will not come cheap if Benfica is to go this route, costing the club at minimum €25M and the club will need to move on first from Cabral and, to a lesser extent Tengstedt if they are to make a move to acquire the lethal striker they so badly need for the upcoming season.

Look for Benfica to sniff around a host of strikers this summer, with Pavlidis' name being just the first of what might turn into a long summer for the Lisbon club if they hope to find the right piece to their attacking puzzle for next season.

Benfica authorize Otamendi to appear at the Olympics

Benfica has authorized captain Nico Otamendi to participate in the Summer Olympics during the off season according to reports from Argentina. Benfica and the Argentinian Football Association have held discussions and an agreement was made with Benfica, who gave the green light for this to happen.

Otamendi will also likely represent Argentina in the Copa America taking place before the Olympics, with the Copa taking place between June 20 to July 14 and the Olympics from July 24 and August 9. This will leave the 35 year old with little to no rest days, depending on the performance of Argentina in the two tournaments.