Rui Costa backs Benfica star, rejects Bruno Lage’s claims: That’s football | OneFootball

Rui Costa refuted Bruno Lage and stated that Richard Ríos was a player approved by the entire Benfica structure.

Rui Costa - who sees Barcelona wanting to take a gem from the academy - believes that Richard Ríos will still succeed wearing the Benfica jersey. In a long interview, the President of Clube da Luz refuted Bruno Lage, ensuring that the signing of the Colombian international was approved by the entire structure of the club, including the technical team.

"I confirm that I know and see all the players who arrive. I made comments about Richard Ríos, as well as other players. But he was a player approved by the technical team, the scout, the sporting director, the general director,” stated Rui Costa, refuting Bruno Lage.

“In the role of President, I have never been in a situation to say 'I want this player and this player comes'. There are many players who arrive via the president, others via the sporting director. That's how the world of football is. Richard Ríos has been in our database for a long time due to what he did at Palmeiras, what he has done in the Colombian national team,” added Rui Costa.

“Today it is a topic because, clearly, he is still in a phase of adapting to European football. Now he had the misfortune of scoring an own goal at Chelsea and it may be a topic. For us, it is not a topic. Richard Ríos is a great player, a great asset that Benfica has. He showed that in the past and will show it again,” considered Rui Costa.

“In fact, I can even say, and I think it does no harm, that we had already looked at him. But he was at prohibitive prices, much more than the 27 million. And although this year we paid a lot for him - and the market values are like that - last year he would have cost much more,” concluded Rui Costa.

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