António Silva exit sparks debate at Benfica: years vindicate Schmidt | OneFootball

António Silva’s farewell message to Benfica’s fans continues to generate discussion. Among the various thanks expressed by the now Bournemouth signing, one of the most notable was the one addressed to Roger Schmidt, the coach who promoted the centre-back to the Eagles’ first team. However, for Rafael Soares, that reference should not be interpreted as criticism of the other coaches the Portuguese international worked with.

“As for the coaches, I think he has been careful to thank all of them, but especially Roger Schmidt, and I think that is perfectly natural. I don’t think it is anything against any coach, I don’t know whether there is or not, but I think it is mainly the fact that he is genuinely grateful to Roger Schmidt,” he said.

Rafael Soares also recalled the context in which António Silva won the trust of the German coach. At the time of Roger Schmidt’s arrival at Benfica, many pointed to Tomás Araújo as the young centre-back best placed to join the first team, after captaining the side that won the UEFA Youth League.

“At that time, when they went to the training camp in England, Schmidt’s first training camp, many people thought — and he was seen as the player with more potential at the time — that Tomás Araújo would be ahead of António. And in the end the choice was António Silva, a decision that paid off, as it was Benfica’s best season in recent years and António Silva’s best at professional level,” he said.

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