Steaua Bucharest winger didn’t join Benfica for… €50m | OneFootball

Octavian Popescu, also known as Tavi Popescu, one of the biggest promises of Romanian football in recent years, came very close to joining Benfica while still at youth level. The revelation was made by Bogdan Costicea, former head of scouting at Steaua Bucharest’s academy, who claims that the Eagles made a very significant offer for the winger, now 23, but ran into the Romanian club’s demands.

"I brought Diogo Gama to Romania. I had lunch with him and with someone very close to Gigi Becali. He came to sign Florinel Coman. Then he came back to take Tavi Popescu. I don’t know exactly the amounts or the details of the offer, but I do know that Benfica offered a very high fee as well as a percentage of a future sale. In the end, the deal did not go through", he revealed in comments to iAMsport.

In the opinion of the former employee of the club that won the European Cup in 1985/86, Popescu missed a decisive opportunity for his development. "It’s one thing to be signed by Benfica at 19 and be developed there, and another to be developed by Toni Petrea at 17", he said.

At the time, Gigi Becali believed the youngster could bring in around €50 million in a future transfer, which is why he rejected the offer from the club from Luz - which may sign another Romanian prospect. "I don’t think Benfica has the money to buy his rights. I think he is worth between €100 million and €150 million, but I’m willing to sell for half that," Becali said at the time to Digi Sport.

Now 23, Tavi Popescu is looking to return to his best level after several seasons below expectations. Last season he played 40 matches and scored only two goals, far from the nine he recorded in the best season of his career, in 2021/22, which caught Benfica’s attention.

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