Skepticism in the rumor mill
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FC Bayern is facing a change in the summer, and the management team around the new sports director Max Eberl and sports director Christoph Freund may also take a bigger look at the defense. The fact is: the name of a potential reinforcement for the summer, the 20-year-old Portuguese central defender António Silva from Benfica Lisbon, has been floating around Säbener Straße for a few days now. Transfermarkt’s Area Manager Portugal Gonçalo Bernardo Tristão Santos classifies the qualities of the Águias homegrown team.
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The sports newspaper “RecordAt the end of last week, he reported on Munich’s increased interest in the seven-time national player. Accordingly, the record champions have been watching Silva for a long time. General interest in a transfer has already been expressed to the players, but concrete discussions are still pending, it was said. Silva, who has tripled his market value over the past year and, together with compatriot and teammate João Neves, is one of the most valuable U20 professionals in the world (for statistics), has a contract with Benfica until 2027. An exit clause is anchored in the defender’s working paper, which, however, amounts to 100 million euros. In addition to the interest from Munich, the Portuguese defensive talent is said to be on the list of other top European clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.
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TM expert on Benfica’s Silva: “Strong tackling and good anticipation”
“Although António Silva is only 20 years old, he is already showing a lot of maturity on the field. He is a relatively fast player for his position and is characterized by strong tackling and good anticipation. When it comes to tackling, he sometimes still lacks cleverness and hard-nosedness, which sometimes results in unnecessary fouls – there is still room for improvement, but that is normal for a player of his age,” attests TM expert Santos and adds with a view to the Development of the youngster: “Silva unexpectedly secured a starting place last season. Coach Roger Schmidt initially preferred Otamendi and Morato in the defensive center, but the Brazilian got injured – and Silva took the opportunity and played so well that he was an integral part of the starting line-up.”
Santos believes that the chance that Benfica would let his home-grown player, who is considered in many places Europe’s most promising central defender, leave prematurely in the summer with an offer below the release clause is not very realistic: “Benfica usually sells its players for very high fees, as was the case with Enzo Fernández and João Félix can be seen, who left the club for 121 million and 127 million euros respectively. I would say that it won’t be easy to pry Silva away from Benfica in the summer without paying a hefty amount. Regardless of interest from Europe, I believe it would be good for him to play for Benfica in Portugal and in the Champions League for another year before embarking on a new adventure. We are talking about a very young player whose development is far from over.”
Benfica’s Silva to FC Bayern? Skepticism in TM rumor mill
The TM rumor mill is also currently commenting on a possible move for the Portuguese to Munich with skepticism. The user “DrBall” only thinks a transfer is realistic “if a central defender would leave first. But now that Tuchel is gone in the summer, I think they won’t let go of De Ligt because he played a smaller role under Tuchel, but we don’t know what things will look like under the new coach. Upamecano is the strongest central defender in terms of potential, but his failures could tempt those in charge to let him go. Kim plays solid. Nothing earth-shattering and for the money that FCB paid, that’s not enough. But it should also be safe.”
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The user “Patty” is in the same vein: “I see it very similarly. This means that if de Ligt changes, Silva would be a logical successor. Since Tuchel is not staying as coach, I would rather assume that they will rely on a defensive quartet of de Ligt, Kim, Upamecano and Jonathan Tah, although Upamecano would also be a sales candidate for me.” TM user “X_Norskvarg_X” says: “There We don’t necessarily have a need for central defense, so I don’t see the transfer. (…) Under the new coach, de Ligt will hopefully play as the defense chief, with Kim, Upa or Dier next to him. (…) Either Upa or Kim would have to go for a new central defender to really make sense.”
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