Benfica president Rui Costa assured on Wednesday that footballer Rafa will remain with the “incarnations” in the 2023/24 season, in what could be the last, and made it clear that at the moment there are no concrete proposals for any player.
“Rafa stays, they already had that information. Rafa stays. If he said he was going to speak in England [no estágio], I spoke to Rafa in England. Of course I speak to all players almost daily. Rafa is a Benfica player,” Rui Costa clarified to journalists, but without saying whether the 30-year-old winger will extend the contract that expires in June 2024 with the “eagles”.
The president of the current champions, addressing the media at the commemorative dinner of the 28th anniversary of the Casa do Benfica in Albufeira, at the Hotel Auramar, said that “red ones” are not available for the summer market and that at this moment “is nothing concrete on the table” for any first-team player.
“It is normal that Benfica players have proposals and that they are all assessed by us. At the moment there is nothing on the concrete table that can tell you about a player. few exits. We want to try to keep it that way. An open market, but little availability from our side,” he explains.
Rui Costa added that “the work has been very well considered and clarified between the technical team and the football staff”, while admitting that “a lot of things can happen in the market”.
A possible return of João Félix to Luz’s club earned another brief comment from Rui Costa: “Félix will always be one of us, but he is an Atlético de Madrid player. Period”.
Finally, he gave an overview of the 2023/24 season and warned of the “extraordinary difficulties”.
“Benfica enters this championship as champions, but that does not bring titles. It brought us a title, but we go into it with the same ambition as in the previous championship. Our opponents have the same ambitions as us.” It will be a year of extraordinary difficulties,” he concluded.
Source: DN
