Benfica announce signing of striker just moments after the departure of João Felix

Benfica officially completed the signing of a new striker shortly after the sale of Joao Felix was announced.

Benfica had been working hard to get the deal done for some time, but they have finally got it over the line.

The player, Raul de Tomas, was on the books of Real Madrid, although he has only ever played for Real Madrid once having come through their youth academy.

de Tomas, 24, joins Benfica for a fee of 20 million euros, making him the second most expensive player to ever arrive at the club.

He signs on a five year contract, which contains a release clause of 100 million euros.

While he only featured for Real Madrid on a single occasion, he did have a highly successful loan spell at Rayo Vallecano last season, where he found the back of the net 14 times in 33 La Liga appearances.

That is perhaps made even more impressive when you consider that Rayo Vallecano finished in 20th place in the league last season; to score 14 goals for a side that end up getting relegated tells you all you need to know about his qualities - and you would imagine that in a better side his goal return would only improve.

He spent the season earlier at Rayo Vallecano too when his side were in La Liga 2, and his return was understandably even better, getting 24 goals in 32 appearances.

Real Madrid were believed to be looking to get €25million for the 24-year old Spaniard, a fee which would have made him Benfica's most expensive signing in history ahead of Raul Jimenez, but Benfica managed to negotiate the price down.