This summer (again), Paris Saint-Germain did business with Benfica. This time, the capital club recruited the young talent João Neves in exchange for €60 million (+ €10 million in bonuses), before sending Renato Sanches on loan to his training club. These two transactions have been much talked about in Lisbon. As for Sanches, if his return home was enough to seduce, his new injuries quickly confirmed that the midfielder remains a player more often present in the infirmary than on the pitch. But officially, Benfica is serene.
In an interview with BTVrelayed by the entire Portuguese press, Rui Costa, the president of Aguias, said he was happy to see the Renato Sanches of 2016 again, the one who convinced Bayern Munich to put €35 million (excluding bonuses) on the table to afford him. He needed no introduction at home. With João Neves gone, that void needed to be filled, and the opportunity arose to lose a local player and bring in another. Although Renato hasn’t had the same spark in recent years, especially compared to when he was at our club, we believe he has a great desire to be Renato again and wear this shirt again. He’s injured now, that’s true, but I’m convinced he’ll recover and give a lot. I know how he feels about wearing this shirt and I know he’ll give us a lot this year. »
“It always hurts to see one of our boys go”
Asked about the content of the SLB 2024 summer market, Rui Costa was particularly expected on the João Neves file. In Portugal, seeing the 19-year-old leave his training club to join PSG for only €60 million remains an anomaly for many. Especially, at a time when Benfica was publicly demanding at least €100 million for their nugget at the start of the transfer window. The opportunity for Rui Costa to recall that he did not sell Neves with a light heart, but that he simply obeyed the laws of the market. We rejected smaller offers earlier (in the transfer window). We raised the stakes. The first offers were unacceptable, but one inevitably came. João didn’t want to leave Benfica, but there are figures that are becoming inevitable for the player and the club. We all think that João is priceless, in the objective sense of the word, but we have to look at the market and realise how it works. ” he said, before concluding.
” This is the lowest market since 2016 or 2017, the first in which there has been no transfer over 100 million euros. We are not here to break records, but to value our players. If another year the 60 million was low, today they are in the top 5 of the highest transfers in this market. It always hurts to see one of our boys leave, but these are needs that we cannot say no to. During this transfer window, the most expensive transfer was that of a world champion striker (Julian Álvarez to Atlético de Madrid) for 75 million euros. João’s transfer is in the top 5 of this transfer market and if the final amount reaches 70 million euros, it will be the second most expensive transfer. »*Enough to silence the critics?
