Look at this, Benfica! Former Sporting man backs Marco Silva move | OneFootball

continues to gather momentum as the leading candidate to take charge of Benfica next season and, this time, it was Rui Mota who praised the Portuguese coach. Mota, who was his assistant at Sporting at the time, said that the current Fulham boss fits perfectly the profile Benfica want to succeed José Mourinho.

"He is, clearly, a good bet for Benfica", Rui Mota began, speaking to Record newspaper. The Portuguese coach, who has worked alongside names such as Jesualdo Ferreira, Leonardo Jardim, Marco Silva and Jorge Jesus, highlighted the 48-year-old manager’s solid track record in English football.

"He is a very successful coach, he has already been in the best league in the world for some time, and he has experience at a very competitive level. Even at Sporting, in a transitional phase after Leonardo Jardim, he was very successful: he won the Cup and had a good Champions League campaign", Rui Mota added, recalling Marco Silva’s spell at Alvalade in 2014/15.

The former assistant went even further in his praise and assured that Marco Silva belongs to the elite of Portuguese coaches today. "Portugal has very good coaches and he is, clearly, one of them. In terms of preparation, and even status, he is among the best. He likes to take the initiative, with structured football, and he is clearly a good bet for Benfica", he concluded.

It should be remembered that, according to the source mentioned earlier, one of the main obstacles to Marco Silva’s arrival at the Luz is the high salary he earns at Fulham. The Portuguese coach currently receives around €5.8 million net per season, with that figure able to rise to €7.5 million depending on objectives, a scenario that forces the SAD led by Rui Costa to do the math if it decides to move forward definitively with the signing.

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