Exclusive: Rennes defender offered to Benfica, Rui Costa said no | OneFootball

Rui Costa rejected Charlie Cresswell’s move to Benfica, as Glorioso 1904 has learned. In this Exclusive, our newspaper reveals that the English centre-back was offered to the Eagles, but the club’s president felt the player was not part of Benfica’s plans.

The team in red wants to quickly secure a replacement for António Silva, who left for Bournemouth. One option was Charlie Cresswell. The 23-year-old English player was at Toulouse and has interesting characteristics: .

However, the transfer fee requested by Toulouse was too expensive. The English defender was recently sold to Rennes for €22.5 million, while Benfica only intends to spend a maximum of €15 million. Another reason is that the club prefers a centre-back with a different profile.

Developed at Leeds United and an important part of England’s back-to-back Under-21 European Championship wins in 2023 and 2025, Cresswell moved to Toulouse in 2024. He had two good seasons in Ligue 1 and has now moved to Rennes.

Last season, wearing the Toulouse shirt, Charlie Cresswell — valued at €25 million — the English footballer scored four goals and provided three assists.

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