Benfica Players Rafa, Di María, and Chiquinho Could Leave for Free in January; Otamendi an Exception, Grimaldo Confirms Trend

Rafa, Di María and Chiquinho will be able to freely sign for another club in January; Otamendi is an exception, Grimaldo confirms the rule of recent years

History repeats itself: a year ago Grimaldo and Otamendi gathered attention because they were approaching the end of their contract with Benfica, now the leading role belongs to Rafa, Di María and Chiquinho.

There are three players from Roger Schmidt’s squad just a few days away from being able to freely sign a contract for another club and this is one of the concerns of Benfica’s SAD, particularly Rafa.

news-item-description ellipsis-2-line">SAD maintains its intention to sign a new contract, but is running out of time: January is approaching; agent doesn’t even want to hear about it

The negotiations have not yet yielded practical results and Benfica sees the risk of losing a key player again without compensation increasing.

Otamendi renewed in June, less than a month before his contract ended, Grimaldo never did so and left for Bayer Leverkusen, in Germany.

It is, in fact, a trend that has been accentuated. It started in the media with Maxi Pereira in 2015, the Uruguayan understood that Benfica didn’t do everything they could to keep him and ended up signing, yes, but for FC Porto, causing a shock at Luz.

Maxi Pereira in his Benfica days (IMAGO)

And since then, Benfica has been increasingly penalized by the departure of players at the end of their contracts who refuse to renew. Players who were contacted to renew and did not accept.

Mile Svilar, goalkeeper, moved to Roma, Diego Moreira, winger who won the Youth League, left for Chelsea, Cher Ndour, attacking midfielder who also won the competition, chose PSG, leaving as national champion, after being bet to Roger Schmidt.

Benfica has lost most of the lawsuits involving players at the end of their contract and this fact naturally worries the Benfica fans, who have not yet given up on the three open lawsuits.

Chiquinho, Otamendi and Di María, Photo MIGUEL NUNES/ASF

Rafa is one of the pillars of Roger Schmidt’s team, Di María signed for one season and is being sought after in Argentina (Rosario Central) and Mexico, Chiquinho is a different case, as he is not a starter and is not seen as a high-risk player in case of departure.

Benfica, however, is not always penalized for situations involving players at the end of their contract. A blatant example is Peruvian André Carrillo, who declined to renew his contract with Sporting to play for Luz.

news-item-description ellipsis-2-line">Rafa Silva is one of the players who could leave for free at the end of the season

FC Porto, it should also be noted, has a heavy burden on this matter. Players like Marega, Brahimi, Herrera, Marcano and Mbemba left at the end of their contracts and there is currently a striker called Taremi in a position to do the same thing.

2023-12-24 09:00:00
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