Deal done! Rui Costa sends out player with 4 Benfica titles on loan | OneFootball

Benfica women's football has officially announced the loan of Joana Silva to Valadares Gaia. The agreement is valid until the end of the current season, allowing the defender to gain experience with another Liga BPI club. Rui Costa approved the move to give the player more experience, as she now seeks to prove herself outside of Seixal.

Joana Silva loaned to Valadares Gaia

“Joana Silva, a young central defender, will play on loan at Valadares Gaia until the end of the current season. Having featured in two matches (scoring one goal) in the first half of the season, at 20 years old, she will have her first experience outside the Benfica environment since 2020/21, the season in which she began her development at the Club,” reads the statement from the Reds.

The main goal of this loan is to give the player more regular competitive playing time. The club’s management believes that the footballer needs to accumulate more minutes on the pitch to develop further. The aim is that, in the near future, the star can return more mature and become a truly valuable asset to the main squad.

For the central defense position, the coaching staff currently has high-profile names like Christy Ucheibe, Diana Gomes, and Carole Costa, whose future remains open. This strong competition made it very difficult for the young player to feature regularly in the starting lineup. The temporary move is seen as the ideal solution to avoid stagnation in such a crowded area of the squad.

Wearing the Sacred Mantle, Joana Silva, who completed most of her development at Benfica, has made 23 appearances and scored four goals. The young international for Portugal’s youth teams has won four titles with the Club of Light: three National Championships and one League Cup.

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