Seixal on alert: Marco Silva's track record raises Benfica doubts | OneFootball

Benfica begin preparations for the 2026/27 season in a somewhat unusual context. Marco Silva’s arrival as head coach was only made official a few days ago and, although Rui Costa assured that planning for the new campaign was already underway, several questions remain open regarding the composition of the squad.

With just over a month to prepare the team, Marco Silva will have to speed things up and quickly define his options for the start of the season. One of the issues that has sparked the most curiosity among the fans concerns the use of players developed at Seixal.

Throughout his career, Marco Silva has never been particularly associated with a heavy reliance on youth development, although he has regularly worked with young squads. Many of the players he introduced already had experience in professional settings, which makes it difficult to classify him as a coach specialized in promoting young talent.

Even so, there are several examples of players who took their first steps under the guidance of the Portuguese coach. In the 2011/12 season, while at Estoril, Marco Silva gave Gerso Fernandes his first professional experience.

The winger would go on to make 27 appearances that season, at just 21 years of age. In the same season, Leandro Borges also had the opportunity to make his debut for the first team, although he did not add any more minutes after that first match. Then, in 2013/14, again at Estoril, Marco Silva promoted two other youngsters from the academy. Ricardo Vaz, then 19 years old, featured in five matches and scored one goal, while Rui Caniço, only 18, made one appearance for the first team.

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