Beast King Costa

Chapter 255
After the World Cup, most of European football continued to enter a long intermission.

Except for the Nordic Norwegian League, the Swedish Super League, the Finnish League, and some small European leagues are still going on, the mainstream leagues will not start until August.

After Diego and David Luiz came to the Azores, they practiced and took vacations with peace of mind.

Facts have proved that the vast majority of players in Europe are very self-disciplined. Most of the players who are not troubled by injuries will take a hired training team to some beautiful places after a short vacation and start early. Do personal training.

In the Azores, Diego and David Luiz met many well-known professional players.

For example, the Italian international Pirlo, the German international Husky, and even the Swedish international Ljungberg, who played in the World Cup final, all started their vacations and strengthened their physical fitness for the new season on this small island in Oceania.

Later, Diego and David Luiz learned that many stars with good friendships like to form a group to train together in a certain place.

This allows not only to play together, but also to employ the same high level training team.

When the players are on vacation, starting individual training, or group training, various clubs are also starting to start a bloody battle in the transfer market in full swing!

Portuguese coach Fernando Santos, who was dissatisfied with the Benfica youth team, had three meetings with the club's top management, including club president Felipe Vieira, after returning to Lisbon after his trip to China.

At the meeting, Fernando Santos was very tough.

"If Benfica relies on this young team with no fighting spirit, no passion, no technical and tactical ability to transfuse blood into the first team, then Benfica will never be able to enter the European League again! We need to continue to buy people! We need to be younger , More talented players will enter the first team and activate the healthy internal competition of the team! Only in this way can the veterans be more competitive in the new season."

Benfica is not a club with financial difficulties. Although it is not a good one, it can be regarded as a relatively healthy financial existence in the Portuguese Super League.

After referring to the opinions of Fernando Santos and seeking the opinions of the club's echelon coaches, the club chairman Felipe Vieira learned from the painful experience-since the team is going to be overthrown and rebuilt, it is still necessary to make a big move in the transfer market. Necessary.

Therefore, after entering July, Benfica Club has been continuously active in the transfer market.

But unlike the operation of the world's top clubs, Benfica set its sights on the young talents of the Portuguese department, instead of waving a checkbook to attract those already famous stars to join.

Immediately, a series of young players joined the Benfica club.

Boavista's 25-year-old right back Paulo Jorge joined for 200 million euros and signed a three-year contract.

Diego has played against this defensive player in the right gate position in the Portuguese Super League.

Although he is also called Paul Jorge, compared with Braga's vice-captain and Brazil's "big brother" Paul Jorge before Diego, his defensive ability is not one or two points worse.

But considering that Benfica's right-back position in the new season, the original main force Luisson will be moved to the center-back position, leaving Nelson, a versatile midfielder who can make a guest appearance, and there are no other more reliable substitutes. .Paul Jorge's coming to vote this time must be able to get a lot of playing opportunities under the pressure of the team's third-line battle.

What surprised Diego was that after the club introduced him and retained Angola's "national hero" Mantoras, it actually continued to recruit at the center position, and introduced two players in one move!
High center Diego Sosa, who played for the Brazilian giants Gremio, joined the team freely and signed a two-year contract.

Diego Sosa, who is only 21 years old, has played the main position in Brazil in the past two seasons, but his agent is very smart, and he does not give Gremio a chance to earn a dime in the transfer fee—— He was determined not to renew his contract with Gremio. In the end, Diego Souza was hidden by Gremio for nearly half a season, and he was not even allowed to train with the team.

With the help of his agent, Diego Souza came to Europe four months ago to train with some amateur teams and play amateur games. He spent until June 6, when his contract with Gremio ended.

Subsequently, as a Portuguese-speaking player, Diego Souza was naturally promoted to Portugal.

Although he has not played an official game for several months, Diego Sosa's potential and the reason why he joined as a free agent have still attracted the attention of many teams.

In the end, he chose to overthrow and rebuild the Portuguese super giants Benfica.

Perhaps, this young talent feels that he can secure the main position in Benfica?

Another high center is a Mexican player.

Francisco Fonseca, who plays for the Mexican Super League giant Blue Cross, joined for 300 million euros and signed a three-year contract.

Unlike Diego Sousa, a young player who is emerging, the 26-year-old Francisco Fonseca, who has just entered the golden period of his career, is a Mexican international. He has played in the Mexican Super League for 7 seasons. A player who has proven himself.

Whether it is the Mexican Super League or the intercontinental competition in North America, Fonseca has achieved considerable results.

Joining Benfica this time, Francisco Fonseca is full of confidence in his prospects: "Leaving Mexico to play in Europe is a very difficult decision. After all, Portugal is half a world away from my hometown. But Going to Europe to play football is full of challenges, and I like to accept challenges. I am also confident that I will secure the position of the main center forward in Benfica in the shortest possible time!"

What makes Diego even more speechless is that less than a week after the two American centers of Diego Souza and Francisco Fonseca came to vote, Benfica announced the signing of the Portuguese striker who played for Dynamo Moscow last season as a free agent Dry.

Although this 30-year-old forward is not a high center, he also has the attributes of a single arrow.

Diego doesn't know much about De Lai. He only knows that he has always been the second choice for the striker in Dynamo Moscow. He often comes off the bench and has never been able to play in the starting position.

In a fit of anger, De Lai simply terminated the contract with the club and returned to his hometown of Portugal to seek development.

Some people come, and naturally some people go.

Professional clubs are just like this, with iron-clad camps and flowing soldiers.

After announcing De Lai's free agency, the team announced the departure of two players.

Last season's main midfielder Manuel Fernandez left the team with a transfer fee of 780 million euros. He will go to the Premier League to accept higher challenges-this "beast waist" joined "Toffee" Egypt Fulton, and got a 4-year lucrative long-term contract.

The wide player Gustavo Manduka, who was used by the Dutchman Koeman as a center last season, went to Greece and joined AEK Athens on loan, staying away from mainstream European competitions.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this operation was definitely done by Fernando Santos.

As for why Fernando Santos abandoned Gustavo Manduka, no one knows.

The rest of the transfer operations are minor repairs-20-year-old midfielder João Kumbra, 23-year-old winger Mamanu, 25-year-old left back Miguelto, 21-year-old central defender Alcides.

The transfer fee of these four players did not exceed 200 million euros.

It can be said that the Benfica club has completed minor repairs economically, basically overthrowing the previous Champions League team and completing the reconstruction.

However, the outside world is full of doubts about Benfica's performance in the new season-can these cheap transfer operations really help the team return to glory?

In the new season, apart from veteran Rui Costa, Benfica’s other transfer operations are young players, and even many players have never played in the Portuguese Super League. Let’s not talk about their strength for the time being. , can adapt to life in Portugal, that is still a problem.

Some media even began to exaggerate: Benfica club has a financial deficit and has no money to sign players, the old giants of the Portuguese Super League have fallen, and only two of the three giants will remain!
What's even more exaggerated is that there is a saying: the Benfica club is about to go bankrupt, the players' supermarket will open soon, and a large number of main players are seeking their next homes!

For all kinds of doubts from the outside world, Felipe Vieira, the chairman of the Benfica club, chose to laugh it off.

The club did not give any explanation, nor did it criticize the media for misunderstanding.

Regarding the signings during the offseason, Felipe Vieira only published one sentence in public as his response to the outside world.

"It's a mule or a horse. You won't know until you slip away."

Only Felipe Vieira himself understands that the European black shop is about to take shape!
After these young talents have played in Benfica for a period of time, Felipe Vieira is confident that their value will skyrocket, so that when they transfer to a wealthy club, they will reap huge transfer fee benefits.

Although these young players are worth only a few million euros now, what about the future!

Their value will be at least ten times, or even twenty times!
By then, the club's trouser pockets will be full, so why not bring in any big names?

Since it is now a reconstruction period, Felipe Vieira has no plans to wrestle with Porto and Sporting Lisbon in the past two or three years.

In the new season, the executives of the Benfica club are very loose about the team's goals: to ensure the top three positions in the league, they can get tickets to the UEFA Champions League in the 07-08 season.

As for the league championship and cup championship, just let it happen!

To be able to win a certain championship is considered a windfall.

Of course, the goal belongs to the goal.

What kind of results this young Benfica can achieve in the new season depends on whether the new head coach Fernando Santos can twist this team into shape.

(End of this chapter)