How Renato Paiva Shaped Bernardo Silva, Rúben Dias, and Other Premier League Stars | OneFootball

Rising Through Benfica’s Ranks

João Félix. Rúben Dias. Renato Sanches. João Cancelo. Rúben Dias. Ederson. Bernardo Silva. What do they all have in common? They’ve all gone from developing at Benfica’s academy to playing in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, with all but Sanches winning the league title at Manchester City, and they’ve all worked under the tutelage of Renato Paiva.

“Bernardo Silva and João Félix were very clear due to their talent and technical quality, whilst Rúben Dias was very clear for his discipline, his leadership, and his ability to work,” stated Paiva in an exclusive EPL Index interview. “Dias was a case of a player who, we knew was going to be a professional soccer player. There was no doubt about his discipline, his physique, his leadership, his will to work, but his technical ability wasn’t that strong. We’re seeing nowadays how centre-backs need to be more technically adept in the build-up play, and Dias has really improved in this aspect.”

bernardo Silva 20 Man City in action during the Premier League football match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City at Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, England Photo by Natalie Mincher/Sports Press Photo PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxBRAxMEX Copyright: xx Sportspressphoto_SPR11637

“If you told me ten years ago that he would be captain of Manchester City, I wouldn’t have believed it. I didn’t think he would reach this level, but he ended up doing so fortunately. While not a super technical player, he was a player who worked hard to improve and had leadership and discipline that belied his age. Renato Sanches combined technical quality with physical strength; he was a force of nature, but with excellent technical quality. João Cancelo also had exceptional technical ability, whilst Ederson also had incredible qualities. All these players already gave us signs that they would reach a very high level, and we were not mistaken; they ended up reaching that high level.”

Early Life and Inspiration

Born on March 22, 1970, in Pedrógão Pequeno, Portugal, Paiva started playing for his local side but was forced to call it quits on his professional dreams after turning 16 as his parents made him attend school rather than going to training for the U-17s. But whilst Paiva never made it as a player, he never strayed far from the beautiful game and regularly consumed footballing magazines like Onze Mondial as well as playing at the amateur level. Similarly to many others like James Richardson and Sergey Palkin, he’s proof that you don’t need to have been a great footballer to leave an impact in the football industry.

Building Benfica’s Academy Powerhouse

Paiva’s breakthrough came in 2004 when he joined Benfica, who were in the process of undergoing a costly renovation to their academy. Initially, Paiva was forced to drive around Lisbon in order to coach different age groups, but he would soon have the chance to enjoy a world-renowned academy that was built on his vision, with Paiva and the other coaches advising the builders how to construct the Seixal facilities to the tee.

Fast-forward two decades, and it’s clear that this investment has paid off: a recent study by CIES found that Benfica has the most profitable academy in world football with €516 million in transfer revenue from youth products over the past decade, well ahead of second-placed Ajax (€376 million). Paiva proved instrumental in Benfica’s ascension as one of the continent’s top youth centres, moulding future Portugal internationals like Gonçalo Ramos, Silva, Dias and Cancelo. However, not all of Paiva’s students have turned out as superstars.

“There was a player named André Carvalhas from the class of 1989 who we called the Little [Fabrizio] Miccoli, he was technically incredible, he did amazing things in training, he was a very solid, complete kid who could score and take on his man in 1v1 situations as well as provide assists and make great passes.”

“I remember seeing him during his early years at the Benfica Academy and thinking, ‘Going by what we saw in the under-17s, under-18s and then under-19s, this player will have an incredible future.’ He later coincided with Miccoli in Benfica’s first team, who called him up. They called him the little Miccoli because he did fantastic things, but he didn’t even make it to the U-19s for Benfica… whilst he ended up playing in the Primeira Liga, he never quite established himself in world football. This is one of those cases where you have to say, ‘Okay, I was wrong.'”

Adventures Abroad

Paiva managed Benfica’s various age groups all the way to Benfica B in the second division, but after being passed up for the first-team manager role for veteran coach Jorge Jesus, he decided to leave Portugal for the first time in his life and join Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle in December 2020. It didn’t take long for him to adapt to the demands of top-flight football, with Paiva shaping future PSG defender Willian Pacho and guiding IDV to a maiden league title.

He departed after 17 months and started a new adventure in Mexico, where he spent six months in charge of León before resigning; after eight days out of work, Paiva was hired by Brazilian side Bahia on December 6, 2022, becoming the latest Portuguese coach to make the jump to the Brasileirão after Abel Ferreira, Jorge Jesus, Bruno Lage, and more. Paiva guided Bahia to the Campeonato Baiano but would last just nine months before handing in his resignation.

“The difference between Brazil and Portugal is huge… it’s incomparable. Jorge Jesus became the first successful Portuguese coach in Brazil when he joined Flamengo in 2019, opening the doors of the Portuguese market to Brazilian clubs, who started looking for Portuguese coaches. Two days after leaving León, I was contacted by the City Football Group, who had bought Bahia… I had the chance to become Bahia’s first coach under the CFG ownership. It’s sweet, the CFG is a big deal, and it’s good to hear that you can join a coaching group that belongs to a giant group with several clubs around the world, Manchester City being the most important one.

“I interviewed with the CFG technical directors and I really liked what I heard. They really liked my approach to the game, because it’s somewhat similar to what City does. City Football Group approached me for that reason and already had my name in their database when I was in the Benfica youth academy. They contacted me on a Wednesday, two days after I left León, and on Sunday, they decided that I was the coach. I went to Brazil without really knowing much about how it was. When they came to me, I really pursued the City Football Group and ended up accepting, becoming one of the many Portuguese coaches to work in Brazil.”

“It’s one thing to hear about it, but it’s another to get there and work in the madness that is Brazilian football and arrive with a City Football Group project. You have to be patient for things to work out, and the supporters in Brazil have no patience at all. So there was this clash between supporters who see the club being bought by the City Football Group, and whose expectations soar to become Brazilian champions and win the Libertadores, etc, but they don’t have the patience to understand that this was the Year Zero. We signed 25 players, we had a new squad. It’s a new team, and we had no time whatsoever to train. I spent nine months in Bahia where we won a state championship and reached the semi-finals of the Copa do Brasil for the first time, where we lost on penalties at Grêmio.”

Life After Bahia

Paiva spent a year in charge of Mexican side Toluca, sowing the seeds for a sensational 2025 that has seen them stake their claim as the number one team in the country, before returning to Brazil and joining a Botafogo side that had recently won two long-awaited trophies — the Copa Libertadores and Brasileirão title. After a mixed start to his tenure, Botafogo would start finding their footing with six wins from eight before heading to the United States to take part in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Botafogo kicked off the tournament with a 2-1 win at Seattle Sounders before pulling off one of the greatest upsets in the tournament’s history by defeating newly crowned European champions Paris Saint-Germain 1-0. After losing 1-0 to Atlético Madrid in their final group stage match, Botafogo headed to Philadelphia where they faced off in an even-keeled battle vs. Palmeiras. Ultimately, it was Palmeiras who scored the sole goal of the match in extra time to secure their spot in the quarter-finals, and it would end up being Paiva’s final match of his Botafogo tenure.

Ten days after kissing him on the cheek on live television following their historic win vs. PSG, American owner John Textor had given Paiva his marching orders. For the first time in his 55 years of age, Paiva had been sacked, a decision that prompted the outcry of Brazil’s leading sports commentators from Leonardo Bertozzi to Paulo Vinicius Coelho. However, he would last just two weeks before returning to the game, taking charge of fellow Brazilian outfit Fortaleza, where he would oversee just ten matches before being given the axe on September 2.

“Here in Brazil, you can’t train. Imagine what it’s like playing nine to ten games a month, you’re always playing every two to three days, so you don’t train. You have people there who can do pre-season training, but those who can’t do it already have a hard time. And then you start mixing in the regional cups, the league, the international competitions, and your calendar becomes unbearable, you can’t find time for anything. There is starting to be a lot more injuries because either you rotate the players extensively or players start getting injured.”

“There’s enormous pressure from the fans on the managers, coaches, and players; it was something I’d never experienced before. It wasn’t quite like that in Mexico, where you had time to train. There was pressure, but not like in Brazil where it’s customary for fans to invade the training centre and violently confront players and coaches and demand things from them. Coaches here in Brazil have almost no time to work, and my way of playing requires time. You won’t find a team that plays similarly to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who only won the Champions League seven years after taking charge. It took a long time for it to work, and here, there’s no patience for that.”