While Benfica tries to guarantee the arrival of right back Pedro Malheiro at the Luz stadium, writes the OJogo newspaperIn the transfer market next January, coach Luis Merêncio, who picked him up from Vilaverdense when he was still in the youth category, guarantees that the athlete is ready to play wherever he goes.
The change takes the player to another “level”, but the coach says he is “almost sure” that Malheiro “will be able to take that step” and even points out a detail that reveals the player’s work, but also the lack of sun.
“There was a game this season in which everyone celebrating ended up taking off their shirts and he was the only one who was white. It’s a detail, but sometimes this… He was the only one who was white because he was there all summer.” He worked in the gym to do individualized training, I didn’t care about the beach, walks or nights out,” he says in statements to TSF.
For Merêncio, this is a sign that he wanted to “prepare in the best way for the preseason and it is not easy to find players like that.”
His arrival at Boavista, then as a winger, occurred after having gone for a trial at FC Porto. At that time, the chess players were “looking for a player for that position” and, upon hearing about the Dragons’ tests, they took advantage of the opportunity.
“According to the indications we had and the training we did, we thought he was the right player. We were not wrong, his quality is evident,” says the coach now, who praises Pedro Malheiro for the concentration he showed “from a very young age.” .
The young man “aimed to be a footballer” and proved to be “very professional” from the age of 15, the age he was when he arrived at Boavista. By then, “I was already taking my training seriously, I did extra training” and even, he says, “I skipped school – I was also a tutor – to stay “at home” working in the gym, in the gym.”
Knowing “what he wanted and what it took to get it,” Malheiro worked and today he is a professional player “perhaps not so much because of his quality, but more because of his concentration and his desire.” The next stop could be Luz.
At 22 years old, Malheiro is in his third season in the first team and has already played six games, scored two goals and signed one assist.
If he passes Luz, he will have Alexander Bah as a competitor in the right-back position, a role that João Neves has also played after João Victor stopped relying on Roger Schmidt.
Source: TSF
