Marco Silva may have a big surprise in store for Aarhus - Benfica | OneFootball

Benfica are preparing for the second leg of the Europa League play-off for a place in the league phase against Aarhus with a comfortable advantage, after a 3-1 win at the Estádio da Luz. Even so, Marco Silva has a new option available for the defensive sector, at a time when the coach is looking to manage his players’ workload and prepare for another hugely important European match.

The big news concerns Alessandro Circati, who recently arrived at the club in a lightning-fast deal. The centre-back was signed from Parma for €18 million, with a further €2 million possible depending on objectives being met. He landed in Lisbon on Wednesday the 19th and was presented just a few hours later. Despite the speed of the process, the Australia international is already integrated into the squad’s work and has taken on board the first ideas passed on by Marco Silva.

The new signing has also been registered with UEFA and the Portuguese League, making him immediately available to represent the Eagles in European and domestic competitions. That opens the door to a possible official debut in Denmark, although Circati is not expected to start or play many minutes. Even so, the lack of alternatives in central defence could lead the coach to include him in the squad for the match against Aarhus.

Tomás Araújo and Clément Lenglet have formed the starting pair, while Gabriel Índio is the main alternative. In recent matches, Manu Silva has also been used as a centre-back whenever Marco Silva decided to rest one of the starters. Circati’s arrival now gives the coach another option, especially because of the qualities the player can bring to the position: defensive aggression, aerial ability, leadership and maturity.

Marco Silva, in fact, sent a clear message about what he expects from the new signing: "Circati has leadership, maturity and the characteristics we were looking for in that position". The coach also explained that the centre-back would not have arrived at the Luz if there were no confidence in his ability to fight for a place: "If he didn’t have quality, he wouldn’t be here. When we sign players, that is our objective. We have to sign to improve what we had."

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