The arrival of Yaremchuk leaves Benfica overloaded in attack and sales must be on the horizon
The imminent arrival of Roman Yaremchuk at Benfica has left the Lisbon giants with a wealth of attacking options on their books, ensuring that one or two will need to be offloaded in preparation for the new campaign.
The signing of Yaremchuk from Gent for 15 million euros has left Benfica with no fewer than 7 senior out-and-out striker options at the club, with Haris Seferovic, Darwin Nunez, Carlos Vinicius, Luca Waldschmidt, Goncalo Ramos and Rodrigo Pinho already at the club.
With no possibility of being able to keep all of these options happy over the course of the season, one or two will surely have to leave this summer, with Benfica actively willing to sell Carlos Vinicius for a heavily reduced fee, offers in the region of 20 million euros expected to be sufficient. That is despite Vinicius having been touted as Benfica’s next major sale after the departure of Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid for 120 million euros, with some in the Benfica hierarchy anticipating that Vinicius could be another player to break the 100 million barrier.
Indeed, it was reported that Benfica were offered as much as 60 million euros from an English outfit for Carlos Vinicius last year, which was subsequently rejected due to Benfica holding out for 100 million euros. This was confirmed by then Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira, who said: “I received an offer of €60m for Vinícius in January (2020) and did not sell,” adding that Benfica would have sold two players for over 100 million euros had it not been for the pandemic.
In the summer of 2020, interest in Vinicius remained high, with it widely understood that Benfica then rejected a proposal of 45 million euros from a Premier League club for Vinicius, the club at this point hoping to hold out for an offer matching that which they had received in January.
In the end, the now 26-year old joined Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur on a season-long loan, and after a season of playing second fiddle to Harry Kane, his valuation has only reduced further, and Spurs ultimately turned down the chance to make his move permanent.
With Jorge Jesus not relying on Vinicius for the new campaign, selling Vinicius is now very much on the cards, though his destination is not yet clear. Wolverhampton Wanderers are one club that have shown immense interest in Vinicius previously, attempting to sign the Brazilian forward on no fewer than 3 occasions, and with Bruno Lage, who was the coach who showed most faith in Vinicius and brought the best out of him, now the manager of Wolves, another attempt to sign him for a heavily discounted price seems like a very feasible possibility.
Several other clubs will also be interested though, including Nice and Eintracht Frankfurt, but whether they will be willing to match Benfica’s asking price, even if heavily reduced, remains to be seen.
Darwin Nunez is another who has been attracting interest; he is not a player Benfica are looking to sell, still seeing him as a potential star of the future, but it hasn’t deterred clubs from making him a transfer target.
Having been linked with a move to Manchester City last year, Nunez had a solid but not entirely spectacular season at Benfica, failing to show his obvious quality with sufficient regularity to merit a move to one of the powerhouses of Europe. Instead, it is Brighton and Hove Albion, who were very keen on signing the Uruguayan before he joined Benfica, who are currently the most intent on pursuing his signature this window, even tabling an offer of 30 million euros for his services according to A Bola. Having sold Ben White to Arsenal for £50million, Brighton are looking to reinvest some of that funding in a striker, and Darwin is considered one of their main targets.
Haris Seferovic could also be readily available; having had a very good season for Benfica last campaign - and having come off an impressive Euros campaign with Switzerland - his stock is perhaps higher than it has ever been before, and Benfica may believe that this is the final opportunity they have to sell him for a reasonable fee before his valuation begins to drop again.
Most of the strikers will not be considered untouchable, though - bar Yaremchuk, of course, and young starlet Goncalo Ramos, who would only leave for an astronomical fee or, potentially, maybe a loan deal with a significant fee attached. The rest, however, are all available for transfer.
Waldschmidt also showed bursts of quaity but failed to show it regularly, and he is by no means indispensible to Benfica, who would likely be willing to sell if they can make a marginal profit on the fee in which they bought him for. Even Rodrigo Pinho, who only arrived at the club from Maritimo this summer, will be able to leave, the 30-year old unlikely to get much game time this season, and a loan deal may be most likely.
