Benfica loanee wins Young Player award: Good to be recognised | OneFootball

Gustavo Varela won the award for Best Young Player in Liga Portugal Betclic for the month of February, receiving the accolade on Thursday morning. The award, presented by former forward João Paulo, recognized the Portuguese under-21 international for the three goals scored by the team during a period in which they achieved three victories and suffered one defeat.

"First of all, I thank the Union for this award and also my teammates and the coaching staff, who have helped me a lot,” he began by saying, in statements to the Players' Union at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos. The forward on loan from Benfica made his debut in the Primeira Liga this season and has been competing with other players to secure a starting position in César Peixoto's team.

“It has enormous significance. It's always good for a player to be recognized, and now it's about continuing and hoping this is the first of many", he added. Gustavo Varela surpassed Diogo Sousa and Noah Saviolo, from V. Guimarães, to win the award, garnering 18.16 percent of the votes.

It should be noted that the young forward was a choice of Roger Schmidt for Benfica's main team - which is preparing for the "final push" -, having left the Club last summer to represent the gilistas' colors until the end of this season — a deal that does not include any purchase option.

However, the former number 89 of the reds still has two more years on his contract with the Club, being tied until June 2028, after renewing in March 2024. At the time, Gustavo Varela did not hide his emotion about continuing with the eagle on his chest: "When I came here, I wanted to stay at Benfica and renew. I want to thank the Club for the vote of confidence they are giving me, and I will do everything to achieve the objectives, both collective and individual."

Gustavo Varela's goal against Famalicão:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.