Benfica fan in peace here!
Bored with my club's shit performance this season, so might as well investigate what's happening with some of our on-loan players at other clubs, so I don't have to think about this season at Benfica.
often overlooked that the Championship is the 5th/6th best league in europe, so a better league to get players from that say the Portuguese league.
Well, that's not really true, is it?
Look at the top team in the PL now, how many players did they get from the Championship post-dirty oil money, and how many do they currently have from the Portuguese League, all ex-Benfica? (Bernardo Silva, Cancelo, Ederson, Ruben Dias).
Or the impact Bruno Fernandes is having at Man. Utd... or the 750 players Wolves bought from Portugal once they became friends with Jorge Mendes and how they transformed the club? I could give many more examples. The Championship is a great league, far better than any other 2nd tier league, but come on...
Regarding Vinicius, I read the last few pages of this topic, and this a reply to those who already saw enough of him and know that he's rubbish.
Comparing Raul Jimenez and Vinicius:
- Jimenez first season at a top european league (At. Madrid, age 23) was a complete failure. 27 games (all comps), 1 goal
- Vinicius' first
half season at an almost top european league (Monaco, age 23) was rubbish. 16 games (just the league), 2 goals. Napoli doesn't count, they bought him for 5M euros with the only objective of loaning out right away, he didn't stay 1 minute there. First went to Rio Ave and in January to Monaco.
- Jimenez was then sold to Benfica after just season 1 season in Spain
- Vinicius was then sold to Benfica after just 1 year of his contract with Napoli
- Jimenez scored 18 goals in the league in 3 seasons for Benfica (80 games). 31 in 120, all comps, he scored a few in the cup against low tier teams. Overall rubbish.
- Vinicius scored 18 goals in the league in 1 season for Benfica (32 games). 24 in 47, all comps. No penalties if I remember correctly. Overall good/very good.
- Jimenez, age 27, after not doing anything of note in Europe, then went on loan to Wolves, buy-out clause +-40M euros. He did great, the 40M ended up being a huge bargain.
- Vinicius, age 25, then went on load to Spurs, buy-out clause +-40M euros. He's not doing great, obviously Spurs won't buy him. Some fans think he should move to a farmer's league.
So similar situations once they got to the top tiers in Europe, but Vinicius did much better up until leaving Benfica, and he's younger. In football, things are never as linear as "Napoli didn't want him, so he's rubbish" or "so and so scored x goals for club A, he'd be great for us".
Look at Luka Jovic, he used to be in our B-team when Jimenez was there, played about 20 minutes total in the league, complete non-entity. Then the following season went on loan to Frankfurt to become one of the world's top strikers, R.Madrid paid 60 million for him... Only to become rubbish again at Madrid, and once again great for Frankfurt after moving in the past transfer window lol
You need to have a coach and a system that is compatible with the players. They can go from being amazing to rubbish or vice-versa just by changing clubs/managers. It's still the same player!
I don't know if Vinicius is good enough for Spurs, honestly probably not, it's been my opinion since he moved. However, I used to think the same about Raul Jimenez, when he went to Wolves. I was 100% sure Wolves wouldn't activate the buy-out clause, I thought it was a fucking joke. But he got to a club that plays in a positive way, with a coach who understands how to play Jimenez effectively. Something he probably never got at Benfica, we had a lot of decent players to choose from back then, effectively spoiled for choice and we made some bad choices. Jimenez is clearly better than what he showed at my club.
The opposite can be said about Vinicius, decent system and team mates for him at Benfica where he could shine, and now at Spurs he gets a neurotic and paranoid coach with massive insecurity issues, who obviously plays in a way that most forwards would struggle. Not to mention Mou's amazing and highly motivating man-management skills. Is Dele Alli that rubbish or is Mourinho a defensive paranoid lunatic? Were Salah and De Bruyne rubbish or was Mourinho a defensive paranoid lunatic at Chelsea? So maybe Vinicius is not Harry Kane mk2 (who is?), maybe he's not as good as Jimenez (different style of play, but who knows...), but he could probably be much more effective in a different environment.
Bruno Fernandes would now be a defensive midfielder with 0 goals and 27 yellow cards had he signed for a Mourinho team.
Sign Pickford, his T-Rex arms make him the perfect goalkeeper for a Jurassic coach.
