Rui Costa close to agreeing new deal with Benfica's unlikely starter | OneFootball

With the transfer window closed, the Board led by Rui Costa has turned its full attention to securing Benfica’s squad. The Eagles’ SAD wants to renew the contracts of several players, and one of those deals is close to being completed.

According to Record, the contract extension of Samuel Soares has made progress and is well on track. Both parties are confident they will reach an agreement soon. Initially, the 24-year-old goalkeeper was reluctant to extend his link with the Club from Luz, which is valid until the end of next season, but the start of 2026/27 removed all doubts for the shot-stopper.

The player had already made it known at the start of pre-season that he wanted to leave the Eagles, if he was not going to be first choice. Marco Silva’s faith in the player left Samuel Soares very enthusiastic and, naturally, ended up making the negotiation process easier, with talks now ongoing and in the final stages.

Samu, as he is also known, took over as the Eagles’ first-choice goalkeeper and pushed Anatoliy Trubin to the bench, a fact that helped convince him to renew with the Club he has represented since 2013, when he left U. Tires. This season, he has already made nine appearances for the Eagles.

In his honours list, Benfica’s number 24 has one league title, two Super Cups, one UEFA Youth League, one Intercontinental U-20 Finalissima, one Nike tournament, one national U-15 championship and two U-17 league titles. For Portugal’s youth teams, Samuel Soares played in one U-17 European Championship (4 matches), in 2019, and two U-21 European Championships, in 2023 and 2025 (4 matches).

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