Vertonghen blames Rui Costa for Benfica exit: never that way | OneFootball

Although he has always spoken positively about Benfica and continues to support the Eagles, Belgian Jan Vertonghen has never hidden that his departure from Luz was not well received. This time, he went a bit further and criticized the way Rui Costa handled the entire process that led to his transfer to Anderlecht on August 31, 2022.

"That had nothing to do with Anderlecht. It had to do with the fact that my departure from Benfica was handled very badly. I completely understand the business side of that decision, but as the leader of a club, I would never have approached it that way. It was only on the last day of the transfer window that I got the message that I was no longer going to play," he said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws.

At the time, more than the sporting aspect, the former Belgian center-back was thinking about the personal and family side. "While my wife, who was working in Portugal, and I were convinced we were going to stay in Lisbon. And then that offer from Anderlecht came up. My wife simply said, 'you make the decision,' and I ended up deciding based on my career. I found that incredibly difficult because I felt I was taking my wife and children away from an environment where they were very happy", he said.

Jan Vertonghen revealed that he looked at the Benfica shirt he had at home, with his name and the number 2023 on it, referring to the end of the contract he had signed. "I was already thinking: 'why does it say 2023 there?' But I had signed a contract until 2023. My goal was to fulfill it, try to squeeze out one extra year, and then possibly end my football career after Euro 2024. At that point, we could decide as a family whether we wanted to stay in Lisbon or settle somewhere else," he recalled.

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