Varandas, Schjelderup deal and Benfica market: what Rui Costa said | OneFootball

Rui Costa spoke to journalists after Benfica’s victory over Aarhus (3-1) in the second leg of the play-off that secured a place in the UEFA Europa League league phase. Check out everything the Benfica president said after the win in Denmark.

Gonçalo Moreira

"Gonçalo, partly because of his stature — and I used to joke about that situation —, partly because of his stature, was always a player who, in Benfica’s youth ranks, made us wonder how he would react every time he moved up a level. And Gonçalo, to this day, has always reacted perfectly to every step up. He went from the U17s to the U19s, when we thought that with the U19s it would already be more physical and wondered how he would deal with that; then the U23s, the B team, and now making his debut for Benfica’s first team. First of all, I’m very happy for him as well. He deserves it. He has enormous quality, enormous dedication, and he is one of our own boys".

Prestianni and Schjelderup renewals

"As for Schjelderup, you already know: he has an offer on the table. There’s no urgency here about whether he renewed yesterday or didn’t renew yesterday. He is a player who is still under contract. Hopefully he accepts the proposal, obviously. As for Prestianni, not long ago very few people gave Prestianni any credit. We always did believe in Prestianni, which is why we went and got him. Now he is exploding as a result of his development as well, the time he has already spent at the club, the time he has spent in Europe, the age that is helping him be where he is now. Today he is doing well, just like the team is. The team has been trying to put in good performances, but let’s remember we are only at the start of the league season, at the start of the campaign. Prestianni is clearly another player we want to keep, there is no doubt about that. But I repeat what I said: the team is doing well, it’s not just Prestianni, the team has been doing well. But we are only at the beginning of the season, we have just finished this Europa League phase, we are at the start of the league campaign, and now we are already thinking about Monday, when we have a very difficult match and, as you know, we have already dropped two points and we do not want to drop points again".

"All players who arrive at Benfica go through a process involving the football structure: our scouting department, our coach, our sporting director. So he was a player who raised very few doubts; having the chance to bring in João Palhinha raised very few doubts for anyone about bringing him in. Then the process is like that of all the other players. In this case, the influence of Marco and the president — as well as Mário Branco — was to try to convince the player to join our project. But let me say, and in fact repeat what I already said there: one of the things that also made us fight hard for this player was the fact that the player showed this enormous desire to represent the club. And we are very pleased with that".

Response to Varandas

"I can comment on the players arriving at Benfica, but I am not going to comment on other clubs’ sporting policy. I have never done that in my life. I am not going to comment on other clubs’ sporting policy. I will limit myself to commenting on my own club’s. We are very happy with Palhinha, with the fact that we brought in Palhinha. He fits our policy. Not every player who is signed is brought in solely with the financial return the player may generate in mind. This is a signing we wanted in our squad. He is a Portuguese player, a player who has already played under Marco Silva, a proven player and, therefore, we felt he fit our squad perfectly. We are very happy with him. That is the only thing I can say: we are very happy with the outcome of the negotiations. As you know, we even had to take a little longer here and spend a bit of time here to make it possible. And I would also like to highlight the desire João Palhinha showed from the very first day he was contacted by Benfica to come and represent the club. So he is one more player. He is not the saviour of the nation, nor is he the player who is going to dribble past 40 players per game and score 70 goals during the season, but he is certainly one more player who will help this squad achieve the objectives it is aiming for. Nothing more than that".

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