Brazilian left-back signed by Benfica in 2013/14, in statements to the Spanish newspaper BrandSiqueira recalled the transfer to Benfica that season and how close he was to joining Real Madrid.
«On the morning of August 31, my agent called me to talk to me about Benfica. He said to him: ‘let’s go’. When we were getting on the plane, there was a proposal from Manchester United by Fábio Coentrão and Real Madrid called me. They wanted you to go there. It was like a prize. When I arrived in Lisbon, I had calls from the president of Granada, my agents and, of course, people from Portugal. I signed a contract at Lisbon airport with Real Madrid and waited to see what happened. As in Spain it’s an hour longer [em relação a Portugal]I had time in case it didn’t go well», began by telling the Brazilian.
And, effectively, the possible entry into Real Madrid did not go the best way, so the Brazilian ended up heading to Luz: “The president of Granada called me to congratulate me, that all that was missing was the document for Real Madrid. Suddenly, a few minutes later, they call to say that La Liga would not accept the document because of the time. Then José Ángel Sánchez calls me asking me to come back. But he knew about Benfica’s interest, how much they wanted me and told him ‘there’s something that tells me I have to stay in Portugal’. I stayed and, in the end, everything went really well.”
Siqueira, retired five years ago, would win the championship and the Portuguese Cup with the eagles that season.
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