The Benfica Gazette
Market24 Jul 2028
Benfica pay Bristol City $36.8M for a proper upgrade
Bristol City did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $36.8M for Valentín Barco, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Benfica rebuffed over Dominik Prpić
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leiria have kept their man, and Benfica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A move Valentín Barco would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Valentín Barco is living that version at Benfica, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Benfica
Kevin Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market24 Jul 2028
Dodo has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Benfica can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
The town asked, and Benfica paid $36.8M
Valentín Barco was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $36.8M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Jakub Kamiński
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market24 Jul 2028
Samuel Borges steps up from the Benfica academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Borges has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market24 Jul 2028
Benfica promote Rui Borges from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rui Borges has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
- Squad Jakub Kamiński has had enough of the bench
- The dugout When it matters, Kevin Barrios plays
- The dugout Gianluca Prestianni knocks on the manager’s door