The Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos leaves Benfica, after five years at Luz, to move to Nottingham Forest, of the English soccer league, the two clubs announced this Friday.
“Thank you, Odysseas! After five years defending the colors of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, the goalkeeper is moving to Nottingham Forest”, the national champions reported on the official site, in an extensive text in which they recall the goalkeeper’s career in La Luz, but without disclosing the amounts involved in the transfer.
For its part, Nottingham Forest also made the transfer official on its official website, noting that Vlachodimos signed a four-year contract, until 2027.
The Greek goalkeeper began the season as a starter for Benfica, playing against FC Porto, in the Supertaça, and Boavista, in the first round of the championship, but ended up being removed from the national teams after the defeat at Estádio do Bessa, missing out the games with Estrela da Amadora and Gil Vicente, in which he was not even on the bench and was replaced by Samuel Soares.
Formed in Stuttgart, Vlachodimos, 29, arrived at Benfica in 2018, coming from Panathinaikos, having since then played 225 matches with the Benfica shirt, becoming the foreign goalkeeper with the most caps for the ‘incarnated’, surpassing the Belgian Michel Preud’. Man (199).
He leaves Luz with two national champion titles (2018/19 and 2022/23) to his credit, as well as two Cândido de Oliveira Super Cups (2019 and this year).
Despite never having had a consensus among Benfica fans, the Greek player -but born in Germany- almost always ended up being the ‘master and lord’ of the ‘eagles’ goal, with the exception of the 2020/21 season, in which who lost the title to Helton Leite, then under the command of Jorge Jesús.
If that season he only participated in 26 official matches, in the rest he never played less than 45, and last season he had the best balance of this time in Portugal, with 54 matches played.
In addition, it was simply not a totalist in the 2022/23 I League because, in the last game of the championship, against Santa Clara, coach Roger Schmidt gave Samuel Soares the opportunity to participate in the consecration of the ‘incarnated’ as a national. champions, launching the youngster into the Greek’s place in the final minutes.
In recent weeks, Luz has seen a new competitor arrive, in this case the Ukrainian Anatoliy Trubin, from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Source: TSF
