Milan Skriniar could be on his way to Benfica | OneFootball

Benfica’s president had already confirmed that the club had an experienced centre-back practically secured, but chose not to reveal the player’s identity. It was during the General Assembly, held at the Pavilhão da Luz, that João Diogo Manteigas, a former candidate for Benfica president, challenged Rui Costa to reveal the name of the new signing.

After the Benfica chief announced that the club had already sorted the signing of an experienced centre-back and also intends to secure a winger in this transfer window, Manteigas asked directly whether the chosen player was Atlético Madrid’s José María Giménez or Milan Skriniar, currently at Fenerbahçe. The reply was short but revealing: "It’s not Giménez." Without ruling out the possibility of Skriniar, Rui Costa ended up fuelling speculation surrounding the Slovak international.

There are other signs linking Skriniar with Benfica. Mário Branco, Benfica’s current general director for football, was working at Fenerbahçe when the defender arrived at the Turkish club. It was the Portuguese executive who led the negotiations that took the former Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan player to the team then managed by José Mourinho.

More recently, in an interview with Turkish journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, Mário Branco revealed that Benfica is closely monitoring the Turkish market and did not spare his praise for the centre-back. The executive described Skriniar as "a fantastic player" and highlighted the Slovak international’s strong personality, saying that any team is improved by his presence.

At 31, Milan Skriniar has a well-established career in European football. After making his name at Sampdoria, the defender moved to Inter Milan, where he stayed for six seasons and became one of Serie A’s standout figures before heading to Turkey.

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