Benfica linked once again with AZ Alkmaar striker

Benfica will be looking for another striker when the summer transfer window opens, as it looks to find a forward who can not only score but also insert himself into games with authority, something it was clearly lacking last season.

The four strikers that Benfica used this past season, Arthur Cabral, Marcos Leonardo, Casper Tengstedt and Petar Musa, combined for a total of 28 goals across all competitions. Goncalo Ramos scored 27 goals all by himself during the 2022-23 campaign, so you can see why the club is going to the well one more time this summer.

A familiar name has reappeared on the list of potential suitors that the club will be looking at and that is AZ Alkmaar striker Vangelis Pavlidis, who the club was linked to last summer before acquiring Arthur Cabral from Fiorentina.

The 25 year old Greek striker just finished his best season as a member of Alkmaar since joining them in the summer of 2021. A season that saw Pavlidis score 33 goals across all competitions, six more than all of Benfica's options in 2023-24.

Pavlidis will not come cheap if Benfica is to go this route, costing the club at minimum €25M and the club will need to move on first from Cabral and, to a lesser extent Tengstedt if they are to make a move to acquire the lethal striker they so badly need for the upcoming season.

Look for Benfica to sniff around a host of strikers this summer, with Pavlidis' name being just the first of what might turn into a long summer for the Lisbon club if they hope to find the right piece to their attacking puzzle for next season.

Benfica authorize Otamendi to appear at the Olympics

Benfica has authorized captain Nico Otamendi to participate in the Summer Olympics during the off season according to reports from Argentina. Benfica and the Argentinian Football Association have held discussions and an agreement was made with Benfica, who gave the green light for this to happen.

Otamendi will also likely represent Argentina in the Copa America taking place before the Olympics, with the Copa taking place between June 20 to July 14 and the Olympics from July 24 and August 9. This will leave the 35 year old with little to no rest days, depending on the performance of Argentina in the two tournaments. 

 

Atalanta win gives Benfica direct entry to Champions League

Atalanta did Benfica a favour by defeating Torino 3-0 earlier today and locking a spot in Serie A's top four. The victory hands Benfica a direct entry into next season's Champions League and a minimum of about €40M that the club can put into their coffers.

Since Atalanta won the Europa League earlier this week, it gained automatic entry to next season's Champions League, but by guaranteeing a top 4 spot in Serie A, the Europa League spot now becomes vacant and goes to the best ranked club in the Champions League qualifying stage, which is Benfica.

The direct entry will adjust Benfica's off season plans as they can now focus on strengthening the club, with the group stage only kicking off in September as opposed to playing two rounds of qualifying, which would have commenced in early August.

The revamped Champions League format will see all clubs that qualify for the group stage play a minimum of eight games now, two against clubs in pots 1, 2, 3 and 4. The top eight clubs out of the 36 clubs advance automatically into the round of 16. While the clubs that finish 9th to 24th play a two leg playoff for a spot in the round of 16. 

Clubs that finish 25th or lower are eliminated from the competition and have no entry into the Europa League. Benfica will be seeded in pot 2 when the draw takes place on August 29th.