Marco Silva is taken with Benfica's 18-year-old defender | OneFootball

José Neto is making an excellent impression on Marco Silva and could go on to earn a bigger role at Benfica over the course of the season. Although Samuel Dahl remains, for now, the first-choice left-back, the 18-year-old Portuguese youngster has impressed the coaching staff.

The Benfica coach appreciates the youngster’s qualities, although there is no immediate change in the pecking order on the table. As such, Dahl is expected to keep his place for the home match against St. Gallen, in the second leg of the second qualifying round of the Europa League, but José Neto could start picking up more minutes in the coming weeks.

The full-back ended last season hampered by an injury, but he had already shown promising signs with the first team, even making three appearances under José Mourinho. At the same time, he featured 13 times for the B team, scoring one goal.

Last Friday, José Neto once again justified Marco Silva’s confidence by starting in the 5-1 thrashing of Belenenses in a friendly played in Seixal. In addition to being part of the starting XI, the young defender also had the opportunity to wear the captain’s armband, a sign of the trust he continues to enjoy.

It should be remembered that Benfica looked to respond in the best possible way to the 2-1 defeat against St. Gallen in the first leg of the second Europa League qualifying round, comfortably beating Belenenses. The Eagles’ goals were scored by Anísio Cabral, Ivanovic, Gianluca Prestianni, who got a brace, and Jhon Durán.

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